Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressesbywilliOOnuttrich 


ADDRESSES 

BY 

WILLIAM    NUTTING,   M.A., 

AND 

DAVID    HUBBAKD    NUTTING,   M.D. 


ADDRESSES 

BY 

WILLIAM    NUTTING,  M.A. 


AND  ^  ^ 


DAVID  HUBBARD  NUTTING,  M.D. 


»       »   T    »1 


••     •    •     •• 


BOSTON 

GEORGE  H.  NUTTING 
1912 


UB&95 


Copyright 

George  Hale  Nutting 

1912 


yxicxT^L^ 


THE  STETSON   PRESS,   BOSTON 


PREFACE 

IN  this  hustling,  bustling,  progressive  and  wonderful  age 
in  which  we  live,  little  time  is  left  us  to  contemplate  the 
lives  and  deeds  of  our  forbears,  —  who  stood  in  their 
places  and  sturdily  did  the  right  as  they  saw  it,  meeting  every 
crisis  bravely,  and  endeavoring  to  discover  and  avail  them- 
selves of  the  underlying  good  in  all. 

When  it  becomes  possible  to  preserve,  in  fairly  permanent 
form,  the  impressions  of  life,  the  vital  parts  of  life,  as  they 
were  pictured  by  one  of  our  ancestors  who  manfully  "fought 
the  good  fight,"  —  and  long  since  joined  the  silent  major- 
ity, leaving  an  honored  name  and  character  to  his  descend- 
ants, —  it  becomes  almost  a  sacred  duty  so  to  do.  For  the 
inspiration  and  incentive  to  solid  achievement  of  our  fam- 
ily and  our  posterity,  it  seems  most  fitting,  therefore,  that 
the  following  lectures  by  William  Nutting,  M.A.,  formerly 
of  Randolph  Center,  Vermont,  and  delivered  by  him  before 
the  Randolph  Academy  in  1849,  should  be  printed  and 
distributed. 

Upon  his  death,  the  Vermont  Chronicle  said  in  part: 
"William  Nutting  was  born  in  Groton,  Mass.,  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  October  30,  1779.  He  worked  on  his 
father's  farm  till  the  age  of  twenty-one,  then  for  about 
three  years  as  a  carpenter  and  joiner;  when,  his  physical 
constitution  having  been  broken  by  sickness,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  the  acquisition  of  a  liberal  education. 

His  mental  powers  being  unimpaired,  and  naturally  of 
remarkable  vigor,  his  progress  in  study  was  such  that,  after 
close  application  for  a  year  and  a  half  at  Groton  Academy, 
he  joined  the  same  class  at  Dartmouth  College  which  had 
entered  Freshmen  at  the  time  he  commenced  his  preparation. 

After  graduating,  in  1807,  he  became  Principal  of  the 
Orange  County  Grammar  School,  located  at  Randolph 
Center,  Vt.  Here  he  taught  for  five  or  six  years,  —  in  the 
meantime  pursuing  the  study  of  law,  under  the  instruction 
of  the  Hon.  Dudley  Chase,  who  was  afterwards  successively 
the  Chief  Justice  of  Vermont  and  its  representative  in  the 
United  States  Senate.  After  practising  for  a  short  time  in 
partnership  with  his  instructor,  Mr.  Nutting  opened  an  office 
of  his  own,  which  he  continued  to  occupy  until  within  the 
last  few  years,  having  meanwhile,  introduced  many  stu- 
dents into  the  same  profession.  During  this  time  he  once  or 

[5] 


2512«4 


PREFACE 

twice  represented  the  town  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  at 
least  once  in  the  Council  of  Censors.  Sometime  during  these 
years,  also,  he  was  offered  the  chair  of  Mathematics  and 
Natural  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Vermont,  but  saw 
fit  to  decline,  and  continue  in  his  chosen  profession. 

As  a  teacher  he  earned  an  enviable  reputation,  as  to 
instruction  and  discipline,  and  tact  in  inspiring  his  students 
with  an  enthusiastic  fondness  for  their  studies,  as  well  as 
for  the  inculcation  of  sound  principles  of  truth,  honesty  and 
sobriety.  And  many  of  his  pupils  have  risen  up  to  call  their 
instructor  blessed,  as  the  author,  under  God,  of  their  own 
success  in  all  subsequent  life. 

In  his  legal  profession  he  was  ever  considered  an  honest 
and  able  counselor,  a  discriminating  lawyer  and  a  success- 
ful advocate." 

William  Nutting  died  in  Randolph,  November  26,  1864, 
aged  eighty-four  years. 

David  Hubbard  Nutting,  M.D.,  his  son,  was  for  twenty- 
one  years  a  Missionary  Physician  in  Asiatic  Turkey.  While 
attending  to  his  professional  duties,  he  also  carried  on 
classes  in  medicine  and  surgery  among  the  more  promising 
and  intelligent  young  men  of  Oorfa,  Aleppo,  Aintab,  Diar- 
bekir  and  other  cities  where  he  was  stationed.  In  the  pur- 
suance of  this  beneficent  work  for  humanity,  he  was  com- 
pelled sometimes  to  break  the  laws  of  the  land.  The  use  of 
human  bodies  and  skeletons,  though  forbidden,  was  neces- 
sary, and  they  were  used  by  him,  of  course  most  carefully, 
as  discovery  might  have  cost  many  lives,  in  that  fanatical 
country.  The  knowledge  of  this  use  of  human  bodies  and 
skeletons  was,  for  reasons  most  patent,  carefully  kept  from 
his  wife  and  family  until  years  after  their  safe  return  to  this 
country,  with  the  sole  exception  of  the  writer,  who  made  the 
discovery  accidentally. 

The  experiences  of  Dr.  Nutting  given  in  the  two  lectures 
herein  reprinted,  proved  very  interesting  to  the  large  num- 
bers of  his  audiences  in  the  British  Isles,  where  he  delivered 
them  in  1875,  1^  most  of  the  leading  cities,  in  the  interest 
of  the  work  of  the  Missions;  and  no  doubt  will  also  interest 
even  more,  the  members  of  our  own  Clan. 

Accordingly  I  take  great  pleasure  in  publishing  this  little 
volume  for  circulation  among  our  family  and  friends. 

Boston.  Mass.  AprU  25.  1912.    GEORGE  HALE  NUTTING. 


CONTENTS 


PAGES 


Physical  Education  11-22 

William  Nutting,  M.A. 

Intellectual  Education  25-36 

WiLUAM  Nutting,  M.A. 

Moral  Education  37-53 

William  Nutting,  M.A. 

Experiences  and  Observations  of  an  American 
Missionary  in  Asiatic  Turkey — 1876  57-75 

David  H.  Nutting,  M.D. 

Incidents  of  Travel  in  Mesopotamia,  Armenia 

AND  KOORDISTAN — 1854-1876  79-94 

David  H.  Nutting,  M.D. 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

LECTURE    BY   WILLIAM    NUTTING,   M.A.,   RANDOLPH   ACADEMY 

SEPTEMBER   2^,    I  849 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

LECTURE  BY  WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A.,  RANDOLPH  ACADEMY 

SEPTEMBER   23,    I  849 

EDUCATION  properly  means  the  drawing  forth, 
cultivating,  and  training  of  all  the  faculties,  which 
our  Creator  has  given  us,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
render  them  most  useful  to  ourselves,  and  most  beneficial 
to  others. 

To  acquire  such  an  education  is  our  duty;  it  is  also  our 
highest  interest.  God  has  made  it  our  duty.  He  has  given 
us  the  germs  of  various  faculties  capable  of  unlimited  im- 
provement by  proper  cultivation;  and  He  has  commanded 
us  to  improve  them;  He  has  said  to  us  all  "occupy  till  I 
come."  He  has  also  so  constituted  us,  that  it  is  only  by  the 
cultivation  and  use  of  the  faculties,  which  He  has  given  us, 
that  we  can  be  happy  here,  or  expect  happiness  hereafter. 

But  our  Maker  has  given  us  faculties  of  different  kinds 
or  classes,  all  of  which  are  to  be  developed  and  cultivated. 
He  has  given  us  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  faculties; 
or  in  other  words,  He  has  made  the  human  being  to  consist 
of  a  body,  a  mind,  and  a  conscience  or  a  faculty  of  dis- 
tinguishing intuitively,  without  the  slow  process  of  reason- 
ing, between  moral  right  and  wrong.  All  these  parts,  or 
faculties  of  the  human  being,  are  to  be  simultaneously 
educated. 

Education  is  therefore  properly  divided  into  three  branches: 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral.  All  these  branches  of 
education  are  essential  to  our  usefulness  and  happiness,  for 
it  is  easy  to  see  that  without  a  competent  degree  of  bodily 
health  we  cannot  make  proficiency  in  our  studies.  Such  is 
the  connection  between  body  and  mind,  that  the  one  can- 
not suffer  and  the  other  remain  at  ease.  We  must  have  the 
^^ Sana  mens  in  corpore  sano^'^  or  the  sound  mind  in  a  sounds 
body,  if  we  would  be  happy  or  useful.  And  it  is  an  equally 
obvious  fact,  that  by  cultivating  a  man's  physical  and  in- 
tellectual powers,  while  his  morals  are  depraved,  instead 
of  increasing  his  happiness  you  make  him  miserable;  instead 
of  making  him  useful,  you  make  him  a  pest  to  the  community; 
you  make  him  a  more  powerful  savage,  a  more  perfect 
demon. 

It  is  obvious  then  that  the  three  branches  of  education. 


^  ^.  ^  ^        WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

viz.,  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral,  must  go  hand  in  hand; 
that  they  must  be  taught  in  all  our  schools  and  seminaries; 
and  that  our  former  teachers,  who  supposed  their  whole 
(or  even  principal)  business  was  the  intellectual  improvement 
of  their  pupils,  had  but  very  imperfect  conceptions  of  their 
duties. 

I  purpose  at  this  time  to  offer  a  few  suggestions  on  phys- 
ical education;  and  afterwards  as  I  may  have  opportunity 
to  take  up  the  subjects  of  intellectual  and  moral  education. 

I  place  physical  education  first,  because  it  is  first  in  order 
of  time;  our  bodily  wants  and  faculties  must  be  attended  to 
and  cultivated  before  our  intellectual  and  moral  faculties 
are  capable  of  cultivation.  It  is  first  in  importance,  for  with- 
out health,  and  a  competent  degree  of  bodily  strength  and 
activity  we  can  neither  cultivate  our  mental  and  moral 
powers  nor  perform  the  serious  duties  of  life.  And  not- 
^  withstanding  its  importance  it  has  been  most  lamentably 
neglected. 

Physical  education  is  the  cultivation  of  our  physical 
faculties  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  most  conduce  to  bodily 
health,  strength  and  activity.  And  this  depends  on  a  prop- 
ter attention  to  two  words,  diet  and  exercise.  By  a  proper 
attention  to  diet  and  exercise  every  perfectly  formed  child 
would  grow  up  to  a  healthy  and  vigorous  maturity,  accident 
and  specific  diseases  excepted,  with  a  prospect  of  a  long, 
and,  so  far  as  physical  powers  are  concerned,  a  useful  life. 

But  what  is  the  proper  diet,  and  what  the  proper  exercise, 
to  promote  health,  strength,  and  activity?  To  attempt  to 
answer  these  questions  may  seem  to  be  encroaching  upon 
the  province  of  the  physician  and  professed  physiologist; 
but  still  they  will  pardon  a  man  of  plain  sense,  but  without 
any  pretension  to  these  particular  sciences,  to  make  some 
suggestions  as  the  result  of  more  than  fifty  years  of  expe- 
rience and  observation. 

And  first  as  to  diet;  let  it  be  plain  and  simple,  and  rather 
even  coarse  and  scanty,  than  luxurious.  Do  you  ask  my 
authority  for  this  recommendation?  I  refer  you  to  your  own 
observation.  Compare  the  present  generation  with  what 
you  know  of  our  ancestors;  compare  the  almost  uninter- 
rupted health  and  vigor  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  this 
town  with  the  consumptions,  dyspepsias,  liver  complaints 

[12] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

and  gouts  now  common  among  us,  and  ask,  what  makes  the 
difference?  Compare  the  health  and  hardihood  of  the  peas- 
antry in  this  and  all  other  countries  with  the  imbecility, 
effeminacy,  and  "often  infirmities"  of  the  nobility  and  more 
opulent  classes  in  the  same  countries;  finally  compare  your- 
selves with  the  foreign  peasantry  flocking  into  our  country 
from  almost  all  nations,  and  now  all  around  us;  —  let  the 
young  ladies  and  misses  present  not  shrink  from  comparing 
themselves,  in  respect  to  health  and  strength  of  constitu- 
tion, with  the  Irish  and  French  women  and  girls  now  hired 
in  a  great  proportion  of  our  families,  and  see  on  which  side 
the  advantage  lies.  Is  it  not  a  conceded  fact,  that  though 
our  foreign  females  are  less  acquainted  with  our  manner  of 
housekeeping,  and  have  less  sleight  or  dexterity,  yet  their 
superior  health  and  strength  enables  them  to  perform  twice 
as  much  hard  work  as  our  native  hired  help?  It  is  true  that 
in  them,  physical  strength  is  connected  with  vulgarity,  or  a 
want  of  intellectual  and  polite  accomplishments.  But  this 
is  by  no  means  a  necessary  connection.  On  the  contrary  the 
young  lady  of  firm  health  and  sound  constitution  has  greatly 
the  advantage  of  her  feeble  sister  in  the  pursuit  of  intel- 
lectual education  and  the  polite  accomplishments.  But 
these  are  facts  which  you  must  have  observed;  and  how 
do  you  account  for  them?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  colds,  coughs, 
and  other  pulmonary  complaints;  want  of  appetite,  indi- 
gestion, dyspepsia  and  other  disorders  of  the  stomach,  to- 
gether with  the  whole  train  of  what  some  of  our  physicians 
have  called  ^^ gouty  affections, ^^  are  almost  infinitely  more 
common  now  than  they  were  among  our  ancestors?  True, 
you  did  not  live  in  the  days  of  our  ancestors,  but  you  know 
from  history,  and  from  verbal  information  from  those  few 
aged  persons,  who  still  survive,  that  these  are  facts.  You 
can  also  look  around  you;  and  let  me  ask,  did  you  ever  know 
an  Irishman,  or  Canadian,  male  or  female,  afflicted  by  want 
of  appetite,  indigestion  or  dyspepsia?  If  you  admit  the  fact, 
that  this  disparity  in  the  health  of  ourselves  and  our  ances- 
tors, and  between  the  peasantry  and  higher  classes  in  other 
countries  exists,  the  question  returns,  how  will  you  account 
for  it?  It  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  the  score  of  soil  or 
climate.  We  live  in  the  same  climate,  tread  the  same  soil, 
and   breathe  the   same   atmosphere,  which  our  ancestors 

['3] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

did.  The  same  is  true  of  the  peasantry  and  nobility  of  other 
countries.  But  their  manner  of  life,  their  diet  and  exercise, 
was  different.  Consult  the  early  history  of  these  States; 
or  go  to  the  few  very  aged  men  and  women,  whom  a  merci- 
ful Providence  is  still  sparing  for  our  instruction,  and  en- 
quire of  them,  how  they  lived  in  the  early  days  of  this  coun- 
try. They  will  tell  you,  that  their  diet  was  always  very 
plain  and  simple,  frequently  what  would  now  be  called 
coarse,  and  sometimes  scanty;  and  that  their  exercise  was 
constant,  and  frequently  severe.  They  will  tell  you  that 
they  used  no  intoxicating  liquors;  and  I  am  happy  that  for 
some  years  past  we  have  been,  in  Paddy's  phrase,  advancing 
back,  to  the  ground  occupied  by  our  ancestors,  in  this  re- 
spect; and  that  all,  whom  I  now  address,  can  truly  say  with 
them,  ''we  use  no  intoxicating  liquors."  They  will  tell  you 
farther,  that  coffee  and  tea  formed  no  part  of  their  morning 
and  evening  repast;  that  their  drink  was  pure  cold  water, 
with  which  no  country  is  better,  and  few  so  well,  supplied 
as  ours;  that  they  used  very  sparingly  if  at  all,  the  various 
spicery  and  other  condiments  now  considered  indispensable; 
and  that  they  very  seldom  indeed  ever  ate  of  more  than  one 
dish  at  the  same  meal,  and  never,  except  on  Thanksgiving 
and  other  gala  days,  tempted  their  appetites,  overloaded  their 
stomachs  and  brought  on  dyspepsia  by  a  succession  of  pud- 
dings, pies  and  cakes,  after  having  partaken  of  the  prin- 
cipal dish. 

They  will  tell  you  farther  that  their  labor  was  severe, 
that  they  rose  early  and  went  immediately  to  their  work, 
while  the  morning  air  was  cool  and  bracing,  and  after 
spending  a  long  day  in  severe  toil  they  retired  to  rest,  and 
found  that  "sleep  was  sweet  to  a  laboring  man,  whether  he 
ate  little  or  much."  If  you  apply  to  any  of  the  venerable 
remains  of  a  former  age,  still  surviving,  they  will  give  you 
this  as  the  experience  of  their  early  lives;  and  your  own 
reflections  will  convince  you  that  it  must  be  true.  You  will 
see  that  the  man  who  felled  and  cleared  off  the  huge  forests 
which  years  ago  covered  these  hills  and  valleys,  must  have 
labored  long  and  severely;  and  that  the  women  who  from 
the  wool  and  flax  produced  by  their  husbands  on  their  own 
farms,  or  lots  as  they  were  then  called,  manufactured,  with 
their  hand-cards,  wheels  and  looms,  all  the  cloths  used  in 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

their  respective  families,  besides  doing  all  the  house  work, 
which  now  requires  all  the  labor  of  the  mother  and  daughter 
with  one  or  two  hired  assistants,  must,  like  Solomon's  vir- 
tuous woman,  have  risen  "while  it  was  yet  dark,"  and 
could  not  have  eaten  "the  bread  of  idleness."  You  will  see 
that  to  live  in  luxury  or  idleness,  "Their  lot  forbade,"  that 
their  diet  must  have  been  simple,  the  products  of  their  own 
farm.  They  could  produce  their  own  meat  and  bread-stuffs, 
potatoes  and  some  other  vegetables;  but  situated  as  they 
were,  150  miles  from  any  navigable  water,  with  no  passable 
roads,  the  host  of  foreign  luxuries  now  considered  indis- 
pensable to  a  decently  furnished  table,  were  certainly  be- 
yond their  reach.  Salt  indeed  as  a  necessary  they  must  pro- 
cure, but  sometimes  at  the  enormous  price  of  ten  bushels 
of  wheat  for  a  single  bushel  of  it.  If  you  ask  the  Irish  immi- 
grants, what  has  been  their  ordinary  diet  at  home,  though 
you  will  find  many  of  them  exceedingly  jealous  of  the  honor 
of  their  country  and  therefore  unwilling  to  give  direct  an- 
swers, yet  when  they  tell  you  the  whole  honest  truth,  you 
will  find  that  the  diet  has  been  plain  and  simple  in  the  ex- 
treme, almost  wholly  vegetable,  and  but  little  excelling  in 
quality  that  which  we  give  our  fattening  animals.  Yet  they 
are  genuine  specimens  of  health  and  hardihood. 

But  you  may  ask,  "Why  address  these  remarks  to  us.^ 
Would  you  have  us  in  this  land  of  plenty  reduce  our  bill  of 
fare  to  oatmeal  and  potatoes,  and  a  bowl  of  whey  now  and 
then?"  By  no  means.  But  if  you  would  ^"^ eat  to  live^^  and  not 
"live  to  eat,"  let  your  diet  be  plain,  simple,  and  frugal;  and 
I  mention  the  extreme  simplicity  and  frugality  of  the  Irish 
peasantry  to  show,  that  there  is  less  danger  to  health  in 
going  to  the  extreme  of  simplicity  and  frugality  in  diet,  than 
in  the  least  advance  towards  luxury;  or  rather  that  extreme 
frugality  and  plainness  of  diet  are  generally  accompanied 
by  firm  health,  while  chronic  diseases  in  their  various  form 
are  as  generally  the  attendants  of  luxury  and  idleness. 

With  respect  to  exercise  I  shall  detain  you  but  a  short 
time,  though  it  is  of  great  importance;  but  as  most  of  those 
whom  I  now  address  have  recently  come  from  scenes  of 
active  life,  and  probably  expect  after  a  few  months  to  return 
to  them,  they  have  less  need  of  caution  on  this  subject  than 
on  that  of  diet.  A  person  may  preserve  comfortable  health 

['5] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

for  some  time  with  but  little  exercise,  if  he  constantly  ob- 
serve the  rule,  that  ^'diet  must  he  proportional  to  exercise, ^^ 
This  is  one  of  nature's  laws,  which  can  never  be  long  vio- 
lated with  impunity.  You  all  know  that  a  man,  or  animal, 
whose  exercise  is  severe,  requires  and  can  digest  a  much 
greater  quantity  of  food,  than  the  same  man  or  animal 
could  during  a  season  of  comparative  inactivity.  Hundreds 
of  young  man,  who  have  left  the  farm  or  shop  in  high  health 
to  pursue  a  course  of  studies,  have  been  obliged,  by  neglect 
of  this  rule,  to  give  up  their  studies,  and  return  home  with 
health  equally  unfit  for  study  or  labor.  A  highly  respectable 
medical  gentleman,  with  whom  most  of  us  are  acquainted, 
who  has  for  many  years  suffered  so  severely  from  dyspepsia 
that  he  told  me  recently  he  would  give  all  his  property  to 
be  freed  from  it,  at  the  same  time  told  me  that  his  disease 
was  induced  by  inattention  to  the  above  rule;  that  during 
his  course  of  classical  studies  he  walked  about  two  miles  to 
school  each  day,  and  boarded  at  his  father's  table  furnished 
in  patriarchal  simplicity,  and  enjoyed  good  health.  But 
when  he  went  abroad  to  attend  his  professional  course,  he 
was  too  intent  upon  his  studies  to  allow  of  taking  his  usual, 
or  even  any,  exercise.  At  the  same  time  his  appetite  was 
tempted  by  a  greater  variety  of  food  on  the  table  of  his 
boarding  house,  than  he  had  been  accustomed  to;  without 
thinking  of  the  consequences  he  indulged  his  appetite,  till 
he  induced  a  derangement  of  his  digestive  powers,  from  which 
all  his  attainments  in  medical  science  can  never  recover 
him;  but  he  has  lived  thus  long,  and  probably  must  continue 
during  the  rest  of  his  days,  a  hopeless  dyspeptic. 

A  comfortable  state  of  health  may  generally  be  main- 
tained with  very  little  exercise,  if  the  diet  be  proportionally 
"^^ reduced.  No  disease  will  be  induced;  the  physical  faculties 
may  all  perform  their  various  functions  regularly,  and  the 
person  will  feel  comfortable,  and  pursue  his  studies  with 
tolerable  success;  but  he  will  not  be  vigorous.  His  muscular 
strength  and  energy  will  be  gradually  impaired.  God  has  so 
made  us,  that  all  our  faculties,  whether  physical,  intel- 
lectual, or  moral,  acquire  strength  by  exercise;  and  they  can 
be  brought  to  their  full  strength  and  activity  only  by 
habitual  and  strenuous  exercise.  This  your  own  observa- 
tion must  have  taught  you.  Why  is  your  right  hand  larger, 

[i6] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

stronger  and  more  active  than  your  left,  but  because  you 
have  put  it  to  more  constant  and  severe  use?  It  was  not  so 
in  infancy.  The  infant's  hands  are  both  aHke;  and  if  by 
accident,  or  the  carelessness  of  parents,  it  uses  the  left  hand 
the  most,  he  becomes  what  we  call  left-handed;  his  left  hand 
becomes  larger,  stronger,  and  more  active  than  his  right 
hand.  Why  is  the  right  hand,  as  well  as  the  right  arm  and 
shoulder  of  the  blacksmith  much  stronger  than  those  of 
other  men  of  equal  general  muscular  powers,  but  because 
his  avocation  requires  more  constant  and  laborious  use  of 
that  hand,  arm,  and  shoulder  than  those  of  other  men?  You 
all  know,  by  information  at  least,  that  porters  in  our  cities, 
men  whose  business  it  is  to  carry  loads  on  their  shoulders 
for  short  distances,  acquire  a  degree  of  strength  in  those 
joints,  muscles,  and  sinews,  which  are  especially  exercised 
in  their  daily  labors,  perfectly  astonishing.  I  myself,  with 
many  others,  a  few  years  ago,  saw  an  Irishman  of  rather 
diminutive  stature  walk  from  the  store  (which  Mr.  Miles 
now  occupies)  across  the  street  to  the  tavern  with  two 
grindstones  on  his  shoulders  weighing  together  between  five 
and  six  hundred  pounds.  We  were  all  amazed,  but  the  truth 
was,  he  had  acquired  the  necessary  strength  by  long  training 
to  the  business  of  a  porter. 

If  then  you  would  enjoy  sound  and  vigorous  health  be 
abstemious  in  your  diet,  and  be  not  afraid  nor  ashamed  of 
proper  exercise.  If  you  would  have  great  muscular  strength 
and  activity  to  be  able  to  defend  yourselves  and  friends 
when  assaulted,  and  your  country  when  invaded,  and  to 
perform  the  various  duties  of  life  with  ease,  accustom  your- 
selves to  severe  exercise,  not  of  one  particular  part,  but  of 
your  whole  muscular  system,  remembering  that  all  our 
powers  are  strengthened  by  lase.  Nor  let  the  ladies  present 
think  it  a  mark  of  vulgarity  for  them  to  possess  good  health 
and  a  sound  constitution;  nor  to  use  the  means  necessary 
to  attain  and  preserve  them.  The  ruddy  glow  of  health  on  a 
female  face  will  always  be  a  great  enhancement  of  beauty, 
notwithstanding  the  sickly  word  delicacy^  delicacy  of  con- 
stitution, which  good  matured  physicians  love  to  repeat  to 
their  feeble  female  patients  to  encourage  them  in  their 
complaints;  and  which  word,  when  so  applied,  has  done  more 
harm  than  any  other  word  in  our  language.  I  admire  delicacy 

[17] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

of  sentiment^  and  delicacy  of  moral  feeling;  but  delicacy  of 
physical  constitution  will  always  be  a  defect  to  be  pitied  and 
avoided,  rather  than  a  grace  to  be  admired  or  sought  after. 

In  connection  with  exercise  as  promotive  of  health  I  would 
urge  upon  students  and  others  of  sedentary  habits  a  strict 
attention  to  position  or  posture  whether  in  sitting  or  standing. 
Always  sit,  or  stand  with  the  body  erect;  that  is,  keep  the 
spine  straight,  the  shoulders  well  back,  and  the  breast 
prominent  and  full.  Such  a  position  enlarges  the  chest,  re- 
lieves the  lungs  and  heart  from  all  pressure,  and  gives  them 
full  and  fair  play.  If  while  sitting  you  need  for  any  purpose 
to  incline  forward,  let  the  inclination  proceed  from  the  hips, 
without  suffering  any  curvature  of  the  back.  If  your  books 
or  papers  are  too  low  for  you  to  see  distinctly,  raise  them, 
but  by  no  means  suffer  yourself  to  bend  down  over  your  table 
or  desk.  Any  curvature  of  the  body  from  the  hips  to  the 
shoulders  contracts  the  chest,  impedes  the  action  of  the 
lungs,  and  if  long  continued  brings  on  weakness  of  the  stom- 
ach, irritation  of  the  lungs,  coughs,  spitting  of  blood,  con- 
sumption and  death. 

I  would  relate  something  of  my  own  experience  during  a 
course  of  study  and  professional  life;  but  I  must  apologize, 
as  St.  Paul  did  when  he  found  It  necessary  for  him  to  be 
egotistic,  and  say,  "Would  to  God  ye  could  bear  with  me  a 
little  In  my  folly,"  —  "and  indeed,  bear  with  me." 

When  I  commenced  study,  preparatory  for  College,  my 
constitution  was  so  far  Impaired  by  severe  sickness  that  my 
physicians  told  me  there  was  no  probability  I  should  ever 
again  be  able  to  labor.  I  had  been,  up  to  the  time  of  my  sick- 
ness, Inured  to  constant  and  hard  work.  I  was  then  far 
advanced  In  my  twenty-fourth  year;  a  little  taller  than  at 
present,  and  as  slender  and  destitute  of  flesh  as  perhaps  any 
young  man  now  present.  My  eyesight  was  strong  and  my 
head  clear,  but  my  posture  after  my  sickness  a  little  stoop- 
ing, my  breast  hollow,  and  I  had  some  other  symptoms  of 
approaching  consumption.  I  consulted  my  physicians  on 
the  propriety  of  commencing  study.  They  doubted,  but 
said  I  might  perhaps  live  If  I  would  pay  strict  attention  to 
my  diet,  exercise,  and  position.  I  commenced  study  about 
the  twentieth  of  October,  1803,  boarding  at  my  father's 
frugal  table,  and  walking  two  miles  each  day  to  school.  I 

[18] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

was  constantly  mindful  of  the  physician's  direction  and  never 
suffered  myself  to  sit  in  a  curving  position  for  a  moment. 
I  studied  in  a  sitting  position  rather  than  standing,  but 
always  erect  or  leaning  back  in  my  chair,  with  my  books 
in  my  lap  or  in  my  hands  before  me.  If  I  had  a  table  near 
me  to  support  my  lamp,  or  writing  apparatus,  I  placed  it 
directly  at  my  right  hand,  and  never  in  front  of  me,  and 
wrote  as  well  as  studied  in  an  erect  position.  Sometimes, 
when  very  busy  in  writing,  a  pain  in  my  breast  would  ad- 
monish me  that  I  was  a  little  stooping;  and  I  could  not 
remove  the  pain  otherwise  than  by  clenching  a  rod  in  the 
back  of  my  chair  with  my  left  hand,  and  leaning  back  across 
my  left  arm.  In  this  position  I  have  written  weeks  and 
months,  and  perhaps  I  might  safely  say  years.  I  pursued 
my  academical  studies  in  this  manner  one  year  and  four 
months,  and  though  I  studied  more  intensely  than  almost 
any  other  scholar  of  my  acquaintance  my  infirmities  were 
during  the  time  perceptibly  diminished.  I  had  during  that 
year  and  four  months  gone  through  all  the  preparatory 
studies,  and  advanced  one  year  and  a  half  in  the  Collegiate 
course.  In  February,  a.d.  1805,  I  was  admitted  into  the 
Sophomore  Class  in  Dartmouth  College,  where  I  pursued 
my  studies,  except  teaching  school  four  months  each  win- 
ter, till  May,  a.d.  1807,  always  adhering  strictly  to  the 
same  rules  of  diet,  exercise,  and  position,  and  my  health 
during  the  time  rather  improving  than  diminishing.  On  the 
first  of  May,  a.d.  1807, 1  was  applied  to  by  the  Committee  of 
this  Corporation  and  permitted  by  the  faculty  of  College,  to 
take  charge  of  this  school,  in  which  I  continued  about  six 
years.  In  August,  1807,  I  graduated,  having  been  offered  one 
of  the  first  three  appointments,  which  I  declined  on  account 
of  my  employment  in  school.  During  my  connection  with  the 
school  I  had  frequent  occasion  to  lecture  informally  upon 
health,  and  to  urge  attention  to  diet,  exercise  and  position; 
though  in  those  days  much  more  upon  the  latter  than  the 
two  former  topics.  This  house  was  then  most  unhealthily 
constructed,  with  a  huge  fire-place  in  each  room,  and  the 
seats  and  desks  in  all  the  rooms  precisely  like  those  now 
remaining  in  the  north  room  and  hall,  the  seats  without 
backs,  and  so  situated  that  if  a  scholar  would  lean  back 
against  the  wall  or  forward  against  the  desk  to  rest  him, 

['9] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

unless  he  was  remarkably  square  built,  he  would  infallibly 
fall  into  the  destructive  curvature  I  have  mentioned.  I 
admonished  them  again  and  again  of  the  necessity  of  keep- 
ing the  spine  straight,  and  with  some  success.  There  were 
many  complaints  of  pain  in  the  breast,  and  hemorrhage 
from  the  lungs,  which  were  gradually  but  effectually  re- 
moved by  attention  to  this  one  admonition.  I  succeeded 
after  some  time  in  persuading  the  Trustees  to  strip  the  south 
room,  in  which  I  generally  kept  the  school,  and  fit  it  with  a 
stove,  seats  and  desks  as  at  present,  gradually  diminishing 
in  size  from  the  rear  to  the  front,  so  that  if  the  seats  be  as- 
signed to  the  scholars  proportioned  to  their  sizes,  no  one  will 
be  inclined  to  curve  himself  to  his  desk.  Since  that  altera- 
tion of  the  house  I  have  known  of  no  weakness  of  the  stom- 
ach contracted  by  studying  in  these  seats. 

My  own  health  during  the  time  of  my  study  and  teaching 
gradually  improved  till  in  about  ten  years  from  my  first 
sickness  and  debility  I  was  surprised  to  find  myself  in  the 
enjoyment  of  a  firm  and  vigorous  constitution.  I  still  ad- 
hered to  my  former  rules  of  diet  and  exercise;  and  till  the 
heavy  hand  of  old  age  compelled  me  to  stoop,  I  maintained 
a  tolerably  erect  position,  and  have  to  be  grateful  to  the 
Author  of  all  good,  that  for  the  last  35  or  40  years  of  my  life 
I  have  enjoyed  as  sound  and  uninterrupted  health,  and  as 
much  strength  and  hardihood  to  endure  fatigue  and  hard- 
ship as  most  men  of  my  acquaintance. 

I  must  again  beg  your  pardon  for  this  long  egotistic  di- 
gression, which  I  think  I  have  not  been  induced  to  indulge 
by  any  motive  of  personal  vanity,  but  by  a  sincere  desire 
that  the  narrative  might  be  advatageous  to  some  who  have 
heard  it.  That  by  knowing  what  has  been  accomplished  in 
study  by  a  person  of  moderate  talents  and  feeble  health 
some  may  be  encouraged  to  increased  exertions;  and  that 
from  learning  how  bodily  infirmities  have  been  removed,  and 
health  regained  and  preserved  by  attention  to  a  few  simple 
rules,  you  may  be  induced  to  attend  to  these  rules.  If  any 
one  should  be  benefited,  either  in  health  or  in  progress  in 
study,  I  know  I  shall  be  pardoned  by  that  one  at  least. 

But  it  may  be  asked.  Why  lecture  on  physical  education 
in  this  seminary,  as  though  the  science  of  health  were  to  be 
studied  and  taught  here?  I  answer,  it  is  a  subject  the  rules 

[20] 


PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

of  which  should  be  studied,  and  taught,  and  practised,  here 
and  everywhere;  in  the  nursery,  the  infant  school,  the  dis- 
trict school,  academies  and  colleges.  They  should  nowhere 
be  neglected.  Every  parent  or  instructor  should  notice  and 
correct  every  deviation  from  them. 

I  have  made  these  suggestions  to  you,  my  young  friends, 
because  that,  so  far  as  human  power  is  concerned,  you  are 
the  keepers  of  your  own  health.  It  is  in  your  power  to  be 
temperate,  plain  and  frugal  in  diet,  and  regular  in  your 
exercise,  with  a  proper  attention  to  position  when  seden- 
tary. You  may  never  be  able  to  procure  all  the  luxuries  of  the 
table;  but  you  may  under  all  circumstances  avoid  them.  If 
by  chance  you  find  yourself  seated  at  a  table  loaded  with  all 
the  various  kinds  of  food  which  can  tempt  the  appetite, 
think  and  act  as  Addison  tells  us  he  did  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances. "When,"  says  he  in  one  of  the  Spectators, 
"I  am  invited  to  dine  at  a  table  on  which  I  see  fish,  flesh, 
and  fowl  prepared  in  their  various  and  most  tempting  forms, 
I  imagine  that  I  see  in  these  dishes  apoplexy,  palsy,  fevers, 
indigestion,  cholic  and  gout;  and  I  avoid  them  as  I  would 
do  the  diseases,  which  I  fancy  they  contain;  and  make  my 
whole  repast  from  the  simplest  dish  within  my  reach." 
You  all  can  do  the  same.  Remember  it  was  improper  in- 
dulgence of  the  appetite,  which  "brought  death  into  the 
world,  and  all  our  woes."  Remember,  too,  that  health  may 
be  injured  by  taking  too  much  even  of  plain  food,  though  I 
believe  it  is  not  often  the  case.  Dr.  Franklin,  a  man  of  great 
practical  wisdom  —  in  his  autobiography  (a  book  which  I 
earnestly  commend  to  your  careful  perusal)  has  said,  "I 
think  that  people  in  general,  since  the  modern  improve- 
ments in  cookery,  take  about  twice  as  much  food  as  nature 
requires."  Use  moderation  then  in  the  quantity^  as  well  as 
the  quality  of  your  diet. 

I  address  these  remarks  to  you  not  only  because  I  con- 
sider your  own  health,  with  the  exceptions  I  at  first  made, 
entirely  entrusted  to  your  own  keeping,  but  also  because  I 
consider  that  the  young  gentlemen  and  ladies  now  pupils 
in  this  seminary  will  probably  in  a  few  years  be  the  fathers 
and  mothers  of  a  rising  generation,  whose  education  phys- 
ical, mental  and  moral,  will  for  a  time  be  entirely  depend- 
ent upon  you.  It  is  therefore  of  incalculable  importance 
that  you  have  correct  views  of  these  subjects. 

[21] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

Let  me  entreat  you  therefore  candidly  and  thoroughly  to 
examine  the  suggestions  I  have  now  made,  and  those  which 
I  may  hereafter  make,  if  permitted,  on  the  other  branches 
of  education;  and  if  you  shall  not  find  them  consonant  with 
truth,  reject  them;  and  count  your  labor  in  hearing  and  in- 
vestigating them,  as  so  much  spent  in  honestly  searching 
after  truth  and  duty,  which  can  never  be  lost  labor.  But  if 
you  shall  find  them  consistent  with  reason,  and  supported 
by  your  own  experience  and  observation  as  well  as  the  testi- 
mony of  others,  let  me  earnestly  but  affectionately  exhort 
you,  as  you  value  your  own  health,  happiness,  and  useful- 
ness in  life,  —  as  you  value  the  character  and  condition  of 
those  who  may  hereafter  be  dearer  to  you  than  life  itself;  — 
as  you  regard  the  final  account  which  you  must  give,  of 
your  improvement  of  the  talents  entrusted  to  you,  —  lay 
them  up  in  your  memories  and  reduce  them  to  practice. 


[22] 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION 

LECTURE  BY  WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A.,  RANDOLPH   ACADEMY 
OCTOBER  6,   1849 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION 

LECTURE  BY  WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A.,  RANDOLPH  ACADEMY 
OCTOBER  6,   1849 

ON  a  former  lecture  I  treated  of  Physical  Education.  I 
endeavored  to  convince  you  of  its  importance,  and  to 
give  you  rules  for  the  attainment  and  preservation  of 
health  and  physical  strength  and  activity.  And  I  would 
renewedly  express  my  belief  that  strict  and  continued  ob- 
servance of  these  rules  would,  in  ordinary  cases,  bring  our 
physical  system  to  the  highest  state  of  perfection,  of  which, 
since  the  fall,  it  is  capable.  But  however  perfect  our  physical, 
or  animal,  systems  may  be,  still  without  mental  or  intel- 
lectual culture  we  should  be  but  the  more  perfect  animals. 
It  is  the  mind,  or  our  intellectual  faculties  only,  which  places 
us  at  the  head  of  the  animal  creation,  and  which  by  proper 
cultivation  enables  us  to  approximate  toward  the  higher 
orders  of  intelligences.  But  our  mental  faculties,  as  well  as 
our  physical,  when  we  are  brought  into  existence,  are  but 
in  an  embryo  state.  They  are  but  the  germs  of  what  they  may 
become  by  proper  culture.  But  what  is  that  proper  culti^ 
vation?  We  will  spend  the  short  time  allowed  us  at  this  time 
in  examining  this  question. 

We  heretofore  defined  education  to  mean  the  develop- 
ment, cultivation,  and  training  of  all  the  faculties  which  our 
Creator  has  given  us,  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  render  them 
most  useful  to  ourselves  and  others.  This  applies  to  our 
intellectual  as  well  as  physical  faculties.  We  have  also  seen, 
if  we  examined  the  assertion,  which  was  made  last  week, 
that  all  our  faculties  acquire  strength  and  activity  from  use 
or  exercise.  Our  whole  course  of  education  should  be  such 
as  will  bring  all  our  intellectual  faculties  in  exercise,  and  so 
far  as  any  course  of  education  falls  short  of  this,  so  far  it  is 
defective. 

The  great  and  radical  defect  in  our  system  of  education 
fifty  years  ago,  as  now  appears  to  me  from  recollection  and 
reflection,  was  that  it  exercised  but  a  part  of  the  faculties  of 
the  mind,  while  the  rest  were  suffered  to  remain  inactive  and, 
of  course,  uncultivated.  Rules  were  given  and  doctrines 
advanced  by  the  instructors,  which  the  scholars  were  re- 
quired to  receive,  and  remember.  No  pains  were  taken  to 
demonstrate  the  principles  of  the  rule,  or  to  elucidate  or 

[25] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

prove  the  doctrine,  and  if  a  scholar  ventured  to  question  the 
one  or  the  other,  he  was  checked  by  a  frown  or  a  sarcasm. 
If  he  enquired,  ^^why  it  is,  or  how  we  know  it,"  the  question 
was  either  evaded,  or  the  answer  generally  amounted  to  about 
this:  "it  is  so  because  it  is  so;"  and  "we  know  it  is  so,  because 
it  is  so  in  the  book." 

This  is  precisely  the  kind  of  education  for  brute  animals. 
They  have  the  faculties  of  perception  and  memory.  They  can 
be  made  to  understand  the  rules  we  prescribe  to  them,  and 
they  can  remember  them.  And  this  is  all  which  was  required 
of  our  scholars  by  a  very  large  proportion  of  their  instruc- 
tors. Thus  their  powers  of  perception  and  memory  were 
exercised  and  in  some  degree  improved;  while  their  reason, 
that  distinguishing  faculty  of  our  species,  was  left  unexer- 
cised and  uncultivated.  They  learned  by  rote.  What  should 
have  been  knowledge  was  merely  belief,  and  that  resting  on 
a  very  slight  foundation.  They  were  taught  to  receive  the 
assertions  and  opinions  of  others  without  demonstration, 
without  proof,  and  without  investigation.  They  thus  formed 
in  early  life  habits  of  credulity  and  mental  inactivity  which 
were  seldom  entirely  overcome. 

Such  a  course  of  education,  you  will  all  admit,  was  very 
deficient;  and  why?  because  it  did  not  exercise,  strengthen 
and  improve  all  our  mental  faculties,  nor  even  the  most 
important  of  them. 

Within  the  last  half  century  our  course  of  studies,  and  the 
manner  of  teaching  them,  have  undergone  various  changes, 
and  in  many  respects  been  greatly  improved.  The  fault 
which  I  have  mentioned  is,  I  trust,  now  avoided  in  most  of 
our  schools,  and  a  course  of  instruction  adopted  which  brings 
into  exercise  a  greater  portion  of  our  intellectual  faculties; 
which  leads  our  scholars  not  merely  to  receive  and  remember 
the  rules  given  them  by  others,  but  to  examine  and  compare 
them,  to  investigate  the  principles  on  which  they  are  founded, 
and  to  demonstrate  their  truth  or  falsehood. 

As  it  should  be  our  object  to  ascertain  and  adopt  the  best 
possible  course  of  education,  that  course  which  has  the  most 
direct  and  certain  tendency  to  render  all  our  intellectual 
faculties  strong  and  active,  it  may  be  well  to  spend  a  little 
time  in  comparing  the  plan  and  course  of  education  in  use 
fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  with  those  of  the  present  day,  that 

[26] 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION 

we  may  see  what  improvements  have  been  made,  and  in 
what  respects  we  are  still  deficient.  For  we  may  have  made 
alterations  which  are  not  improvements ^  and  though  we  may 
have  made  great  improvements  already,  still  farther  improve- 
ments may  be  made. 

Sixty  or  seventy  years  ago  the  studies  of  the  mass  of  our 
people  were  very  limited;  generally  confined  to  reading, 
spelling,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  with  now  and  then  a  class 
or  a  single  scholar  attending  to  geography.  I  well  remember 
when  by  indentures  of  apprenticeship  the  master  was  or- 
dinarily bound  to  teach  his  apprentice,  in  addition  to  his 
trade,  "to  read  and  spell  and  write  well,  and  to  cipher  as  far 
as  the  single  rule  of  three,"  —  that  was  called  a  good  educa- 
tion. English  grammar  was  then  unknown.  Indeed,  our 
mother  tongue  was  not  then  dignified  with  the  name  of  a 
language^  nor  had  its  genius  or  idioms  been  sufficiently  in- 
vestigated to  reduce  it  to  grammatical  rules.  I  well  remember 
the  spelling  book  which  I  used  sixty-five  years  ago,  it  was 
called  "The  only  sure  guide  to  the  English  Tongue,''^  not 
language.  These  few  studies  they  pursued  separately.  The 
scholar  was  kept  at  reading  and  spelling  till  he  could  read 
and  spell  correctly.  He  then  took  writing  and  gave  his  whole 
attention  to  that,  except  reading  and  spelling  a  lesson  each 
half  day,  till  he  could  write  a  fair,  legible  hand;  then  arith- 
metic, and  so  on,  keeping  each  study  distinct  from  the  others, 
and  giving  his  undivided  attention  to  each  in  its  turn,  till 
it  was  in  a  good  degree  mastered.  Whatever  knowledge  they 
attained  in  these  several  branches,  they  gained  chiefly  by 
dint  of  study,  as  they  had  little  assistance  from  instruction, 
lectures,  or  the  various  apparatus  now  in  us^.  After  English 
grammars  were  formed  they  were  introduced  in  our  course 
of  studies,  and  generally  preceded  the  study  of  arithmetic. 

This  limited  course  of  study  was,  together  with  the  manner 
of  teaching,  as  I  have  before  observed,  very  deficient  in 
calling  into  exercise  our  more  important  intellectual  facul- 
ties. Reading  and  spelling  exercise  only  the  perception  and 
memory.  Writing  is  rather  an  art  than  a  science;  any  per- 
son with  good  eyes  and  a  steady  right  hand  may  learn  to 
write  an  elegant  hand  with  very  little  exercise  of  intellect; 
and  arithmetic,  though  in  itself  peculiarly  calculated  to 
exercise  the  thinking  and  reasoning  faculties,  or,  as  one  has 

[^7] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

well  expressed  it,  "/o  make  rational  creatures  of  us,^^  was  then 
taught  rather  mechanically  than  scientifically.  Scholars  did 
not  study  arithmetic.  They  had  no  books  upon  the  subject. 
They  were  required  to  bring  blank  books  for  manuscripts, 
in  which  the  instructor  wrote  a  numeration  table,  and  taught 
them  to  numerate  figures.  He  then  wrote  the  rule  for  simple 
addition,  and  sums,  as  they  were  then  called,  to  be  performed 
under  it.  The  scholar  transferred  them  one  after  another  to 
his  slate,  and  performed  the  operation,  step  by  step,  as 
directed  by  the  rule,  which  he  had  committed  to  memory, 
and  transcribed  his  performance  from  his  slate  to  his  manu- 
script; and  so  on  from  one  rule  to  another  as  long  as  he  at- 
tended to  the  science  of  figures. 

And  in  this  way  many  became  expert  accountants;  they 
could  add,  subtract,  multiply  and  divide,  with  great  rapid- 
ity. But  still  the  intellectual  faculties,  the  mind,  was  very 
little  strengthened  or  improved  by  all  their  attention  to  the 
science  of  numbers.  They  took  the  correctness  of  the  rules 
for  granted.  They  were  not  taught,  nor  encouraged,  to  an- 
alyze them,  to  investigate  their  principles,  or  demonstrate 
their  truth.  They  found  by  experiment  that  the  rule  given 
would  enable  them  to  perform  the  operation  required;  and 
by  practice  learned  to  perform  it  with  dexterity,  but  with  as 
little  mental  exercise,  as  the  expert  musician  will  perform  a 
piece  of  music  while  engaged  in  conversation,  or  thinking 
upon  some  other  subject. 

The  course  of  education  which  I  have  described  you  will 
all  pronounce  exceedingly  deficient.  If  I  ask  wherein  was  it 
deficient,  you  will  probably  answer  unanimously,  "It  was 
too  limited;  it  did  not  embrace  a  sufliicient  range  of  literature 
and  science."  True,  this  was  a  great  defect;  but  it  was  not 
its  only  defect,  nor  even  its  greatest.  The  object  of  intel- 
lectual education  is  to  enable  us  to  think;  to  think  closely 
and  intensely;  to  think  correctly;  to  examine  and  compare; 
to  investigate  long  and  patiently;  to  be  able  to  distinguish 
between  truth  and  error,  and  to  deduce  correct  inferences  and 
conclusions  from  well  established  facts.  Any  course  of  educa- 
tion which  qualifies  us  to  do  this  is  valuable,  however  limited; 
but  that  which  has  not  this  tendency  is  useless,  or  worse  than 
useless,  however  extensive  or  costly  it  may  be. 

Our  present  course  of  education,  you  will  readily  perceive,  is 

[28] 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION 

very  different  from  that  which  I  have  described  as  in  vogue  a 
half  century  ago.  The  circle  of  sciences  to  which  we  are  now 
introduced  is  very  greatly  enlarged,  and  we  are  furnished 
with  almost  an  infinity  of  books  and  apparatus  to  aid  us  in 
the  acquisition  of  those  sciences.  Our  instructors  also  have 
made  exertions  to  supersede  the  former  arbitrary,  didactic 
mode  of  teaching  by  adopting  the  analytic  or  synthetic 
method.  They  either  give  their  pupils  a  rule,  and  require 
them  (and  assist  them  if  necessary)  to  analyze  it  and 
demonstrate  the  correctness  of  its  various  parts,  or  they 
place  before  them  various  self-evident  or  very  simple  facts, 
and  from  them  teach  the  pupils  to  make  rules  for  themselves. 
They  teach  them  that  it  is  not  enough  to  know  how  a  thing 
is  to  be  done,  without  also  knowing  and  being  able  to  show 
why  it  is  to  be  so  done.  They  strive  to  make  their  pupils 
think  for  themselves,  to  have  something  which  may  be  called 
knowledge,  instead  of  mere  belief  resting  merely  on  the  as- 
sertions of  others.  This  is  all  right.  It  tends  to  make  us 
rational  creatures.  It  tends  to  qualify  us  to  act  our  various 
parts  on  the  great  theatre  of  life  with  discretion  and  inde- 
pendence, without  becoming  the  dupes  of  every  demagogue, 
or  mountebank,  or  false  prophet. 

All  must  admit  that  we  have  within  the  last  half  century 
made  great  advances  in  intellectual  education.  But  may  we 
not  still  make  further  improvements?  And  may  it  not  be 
possible  that  we  have  deviated  in  some  instances  from  the 
course  pursued  by  our  ancestors  to  our  own  disadvantage? 

We  have  seen  that  the  course  of  studies  preparatory  for 
the  common  walks  of  life  was  exceedingly  limited  in  former 
times;  but  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  time  which  could 
then  be  spared  for  attending  school  was  also  very  limited. 
We  can  now  devote  a  greater  proportion  of  our  time  to  in- 
tellectual education  than  our  parents  and  grand-parents 
could,  and  may  therefore  with  propriety  enlarge  our  circle 
of  studies.  But  is  there  no  danger  of  enlarging  it  too  far? 
Of  trying  to  become  acquainted  with  too  many  branches 
of  science  for  the  time  we  can  devote  to  them  ? 

For  some  years  past  it  has  appeared  to  me  that  the  ambi- 
tion of  scholars,  both  in  our  higher  and  common  schools, 
has  been  directed  not  to  the  attaining  of  the  greater  amount 
of  useful  knowledge,  but  to  the  attaining  of  some  degree  of 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

acquaintance  with  the  greatest  possible  number  of  sciences. 
Formerly  it  was  thought  that  a  youth  of  tolerable  capacity 
might  profitably  devote  one  term  in  our  higher  schools  to 
the  studies  of  English  grammar  and  arithmetic,  and  another 
to  natural  philosophy,  and  so  on.  But  now,  or  within  a  few 
years  past,  a  young  man  who  should  admit  that  he  had  spent 
a  whole  Academic  term  of  eleven  weeks  in  the  study  of  nat- 
tural  philosophy,  besides  his  weekly  exercises  in  elocution 
and  composition,  would  be  considered  a  blockhead.  Within 
the  last  seven  years  a  young  lady,  on  her  return  from  a  six 
months'  term  in  one  of  our  celebrated  female  seminaries, 
on  being  asked  by  a  gentleman  of  education  to  what  studies 
she  had  been  attending,  replied  with  very  great  self-com- 
placency, "To  the  English,  Latin,  and  French  languages,  to 
natural  philosophy  and  chemistry,  algebra,  geometry  and 
conic  sections,  and  have  also  taken  lessons  in  music  and 
drawing."  And  many  a  youth  returning  from  his  first  term 
in  our  academies  would  give  a  similar  account  of  his  attain- 
ments, omitting  perhaps  the  ^^  music  and  drawing.'*^ 

Our  bookmakers  also  have  promoted  this  rail  road  pro- 
gress through  the  world  of  literature  and  science  by  sending 
out  instead  of  the  ponderous  volumes  we  formerly  studied, 
mere  epitomes  of  the  various  sciences  as  large  as  a  New  Testa- 
ment, and  English  grammar,  or  a  New  England  Primer. 
Instead,  for  instance,  of  Enfield's  large  quarto  volume,  or 
Adams'  four  octavo  volumes,  on  Natural  Philosophy,  a  Mr. 
Comstock,  or  some  other  stock,  furnishes  us  with  a  complete 
system  of  Natural  Philosophies  in  a  book  as  large  as  the 
Rhetorical  Reader;  and  so  on  in  the  other  sciences.  I  would 
by  no  means  condemn  these  abridgements,  or  summaries  of 
the  sciences;  they  are,  or  may  be,  useful.  But  the  fault  is 
perhaps  in  the  scholars  (and  possibly  in  the  teacher  some- 
times) in  thinking  that  the  time  to  be  devoted  to  any  one 
science  must  be  in  direct  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  book 
which  treats  upon  it;  whereas  in  truth  and  in  fact  the  pro- 
portion is  inverse.  (I  believe,  however,  that  modern  arith- 
meticians state  all  their  questions  so  as  to  make  the  propor- 
tion direct;  and  I  may  not  be  understood  when  I  speak  of 
inverse  proportion),  but  all  will  readily  understand  that  the 
less  assistance  they  receive  from  their  book  and  their  in- 
structor, the  more  time  and  the  more  exertion  will  be  neces- 

[30] 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION 

sary  in  acquiring  the  knowledge  aimed  at;  or  In  other  words, 
the  shorter  the  text,  the  longer  the  time  and  greater  the 
labor  to  make  out  the  sermon. 

But  to  return,  I  would  respectfully  ask,  does  not  this 
method  of  hurrying  our  scholars,  or  suffering  them  to  hurry 
through  these  epitomes,  and  of  going  over  the  sciences  by 
their  title  pages,  tend  to  make  them  mere  smatterers?  In- 
stead of  understanding  one  science  thoroughly,  they  have 
skimmed  over  many,  but  are  superficial  in  all.  It  has,  in 
my  opinion,  a  direct  tendency  to  make  them  superficial  in 
everything  through  life.  They  become,  to  use  a  common 
but  appropriate  expression,  "jacks  at  all  trades,  but  good 
at  none,'*  and  in  after  life,  when  reflecting  upon  their  scholas- 
tic education,  with  Cassio  after  his  night's  intoxication  they 
will  say,  "I  remember  a  mass  of  things,  but  nothing  dis- 
tinctly." 

I  would  also  venture  to  question  the  propriety  of  having 
scholars  pursue  a  number  of  distinct  branches  of  learning 
at  the  same  time.  Formerly  a  scholar,  as  I  have  mentioned, 
gave  his  undivided  attention  to  one  single  science  till  he  had 
acquired  a  competent  knowledge  of  it;  then  pursued  a  second 
in  the  same  manner;  and  so  on,  till  he  had  completed  his 
education,  or  rather,  spent  all  the  time  which  could  be  al- 
lowed him  for  that  purpose.  But  of  late  it  has  become 
fashionable  for  almost  every  scholar  to  have  his  attention 
divided,  and  generally  his  mind  confused,  by  two,  three, 
four,  or  five  studies  at  the  same  time. 

This  I  conceive  to  be  injurious  in  two  respects.  It  un- 
doubtedly retards  the  scholars'  progress  in  learning.  No 
person  can  accomplish  as  much,  either  of  bodily  or  mental 
labor,  if  his  exertions  are  directed  to  diff"erent  objects  at 
the  same  time,  or  in  rapid  alternation,  as  if  they  are  directed 
steadily  to  one  object  till  it  is  attained.  On  this  principle 
as  an  axiom  we  have  brought  the  mechanic  arts  to  their 
present  state  of  perfection  by  what  is  called  "^  division  of 
labor,^^  that  is,  having  each  man  pursue  one  particular  kind 
of  labor.  Let  the  farmer,  who  is  expert  in  the  use  of  his  hoe 
and  his  shovel,  his  scythe  and  his  sickle,  and  has  a  day's 
work  to  do  with  each,  work  one  hour  with  each  in  succession 
through  the  four  days,  i.e.,  will  he  accomplish  as  much  as  if 
he  devoted  an  entire  day  to  each?  But  it  is  said  by  the  ad- 

[31] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

vocates  of  this  mode  of  study,  that  "it  is  easier  for  the  stu- 
dent;" that  changing  from  one  kind  of  study  to  another 
"  operates  as  a  relaxation  of  the  mind."  This  is  its  very 
worst  feature;  the  strongest  objection  against  it. 

Our  whole  course  of  education  should  tend  to  fit  the  mind 
for  close  thought,  for  intense  application,  for  deep  and  severe 
study.  But  this  shifting  from  one  study  to  another  because 
it  is  easier,  tends  to  render  the  mind  imbecile,  and  unfit  for 
strenuous  exertion.  It  is  like  humoring  a  capricious  child; 
the  more  you  indulge  it,  the  more  perverse  it  will  be,  till  it 
becomes  perfectly  unmanageable. 

Our  mental,  like  our  physical  powers  derive  strength  and 
elasticity  from  severe  exercise,  which  can  be  acquired  in  no 
other  way.  Would  the  muscles  of  the  blacksmith's  arm,  to 
which  I  referred  in  a  former  lecture,  have  acquired  their 
present  strength,  if  he  had  been  sufi"ered  during  his  appren- 
ticeship to  lay  down  his  hammer,  when  his  arm  began  to  be 
weary,  and  go  to  some  other  business?  Or  would  the  porter's 
shoulders  have  been  able  to  sustain  the  enormous  burdens, 
which  he  now  easily  bears  day  after  day,  if  when  he  com- 
menced his  business,  he  had  been  permitted  to  throw  down 
his  load  on  the  first  approach  of  weariness?  They  were 
taught  to  persevere  and  overcome  their  weariness,  and  thus 
have  gained  that  firmness  and  muscular  power  which  their 
several  employments  require. 

Even  so  must  our  minds  be  trained  to  severe  study  even 
when  weary,  in  order  to  acquire  that  strength,  and  patient 
endurance  of  toil  necessary  to  our  usefulness  in  life,  and 
without  which  we  shall  never  be  able  to  examine  thoroughly 
and  judge  correctly. 

It  is  true,  the  apprentice  must  be  trained  with  discretion. 
Neither  as  severe  exercise,  nor  for  so  long  a  time,  as  the 
master  would  easily  endure,  must  at  first  be  required  of  him. 
Nor  must  we  expect  that  our  scholars  can  bear  the  intense 
application  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  when,  as  it  is  said,  he  stood 
in  one  position  for  more  than  twenty  hours  with  his  mind 
so  intently  fixed  upon  the  subject  of  investigation,  that  he 
was  not  aware  of  his  servant's  entering  his  study  several 
times  and  presenting  him  refreshment.  But  still  their  whole 
course  of  education  should  be  calculated  to  give  them 
strength  and  vigor  of  mind,  and  they  should  never  be  al- 

[3a] 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION 

lowed  to  alternate  between  several  studies,  because  it  is 
easier;  but  they  should  be  taught  boldly  to  face  obstacles,  to 
grapple  with  difficulties  and  overcome  them. 

I  would  make  one  other  suggestion  relative  to  our  present 
mode  of  instruction;  I  would  even  venture  to  enquire, 
whether  our  best  instructors  do  not  frequently  give  their 
scholars  too  much  instruction.  Whether  they  do  not  thus  en- 
courage them,  or  at  least  allow  them,  to  depend  too  much 
upon  instruction,  and  too  little  upon  their  own  exertions. 

It  is  exceedingly  easy  for  an  experienced  instructor  to 
perform  those  operations,  which  would  cost  the  scholar  much 
study,  and  severe  mental  application;  and  his  kindness 
frequently  induces  him  to  anticipate  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  his  scholars,  and  remove  them.  But  by  so  doing, 
though  prompted  solely  by  kindness  to  the  scholar,  he  does 
him  a  great  injury,  he  deprives  him  of  all  the  benefit,  which 
he  would  have  derived  from  that  hard  study  and  mental 
exertion;  and  he  deprives  him  of  the  satisfaction  arising  from 
self-dependence;  —  from  a  consciousness  of  being  able  of 
himself  to  encounter  and  overcome  difficulties.  Our  intel- 
lectual faculties  gain  not  only  skill,  but  strength  from  exer- 
tion. By  overcoming  one  difficulty  we  acquire  courage  and 
ability  to  overcome  succeeding  difficulties,  though  each  in 
itself  grows  more  and  more  formidable.  While  on  the  con- 
trary by  removing,  or  helping  the  scholar  over,  every  ob- 
stacle in  his  way,  he  becomes  more  and  more  afraid  of  en- 
countering them,  grows  up  with  very  little  self-reliance, 
and  never  enjoys,  what  Burns  calls 

"The  glorious  privilege  of  being  independent." 

It  is  true  we  need  instructors,  and  the  best  instructors,  to 
teach  our  scholars  what  and  how  to  learn;  to  correct  their 
errors,  to  direct  their  studies,  and  to  teach  them  this  im- 
portant truth,  that  it  is  study,  rather  than  instruction,  which 
can  make  them  either  learned  or  useful. 

The  importance  of  long  continued,  persevering  effort  can- 
not be  too  forcibly  urged  upon  the  attention  of  scholars. 
They  should  be  taught  not  to  be  discouraged  and  apply  for 
assistance  on  the  failure  of  their  first  effort;  but  should  be 
reminded  of  the  old  fable  of  the  waggoner  and  Hercules. 
They  should  also  be  referred  to  the  historical  narrative  of 
the  brave  Scottish  General  Bruce  and  the  spider.  It  is  briefly 

[33  ] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

this  according  to  my  recollection.  Robert  Bruce,  while  striv- 
ing to  free  his  country  from  English  domination,  was  again 
and  again  defeated;  till  on  the  sixth  engagement  his  defeat 
was  so  decisive,  that  the  remains  of  his  army  fled  in  utter 
confusion,  and  he  himself  sought  refuge  in  a  lonely  cavern. 
While  there  remaining  in  utter  despair,  his  attention  was 
directed  to  a  spider  striving  to  extend  her  thread  from  one 
point  in  the  wall  to  another.  She  failed  in  her  attempt,  and 
fell  to  the  ground.  She  renewed  her  eff'orts  again  and  again, 
each  time  falling  as  at  first,  till  on  the  sixth  attempt  she  was 
so  bruised  and  stunned  by  the  fall,  that  she  appeared  utterly 
unable  again  to  climb  the  wall.  She  lay  In  a  stupor  for  some 
time,  but  again  rallied,  climbed  the  wall  and  made  a  seventh 
efl^ort,  which  was  perfectly  successful.  Bruce  compared  the 
spider's  repeated  defeats  with  his  own;  "And  shall  I,"  said 
he  to  himself,  "have  less  perseverance  than  this  insect?" 
He  left  the  cavern,  rallied  his  scattered  forces  and  raised 
new  recruits,  met  the  English  army  for  the  seventh  time, 
defeated  and  cut  them  to  pieces  and  established  his  coun- 
try's independence. 

I  will  venture  to  relate  another  narrative  of  facts  which 
fell  under  my  own  observation,  further  to  Illustrate  the 
benefits  of  persevering  exertion.  During  my  collegiate  course 
the  Professor  of  mathematics  proposed  to  his  class  a  question 
which  he  requested  them  to  try  to  solve  by  the  next  day's 
recitation;  at  the  same  time  telling  them  It  was  very  diflicult, 
and  that  he  had  never  yet  known  a  scholar  answer  it  without 
assistance.  The  class  were  considerably  excited  with  the 
hope  of  victory  over  all  their  predecessors,  and  as  soon  as 
possible  attacked  the  dlflficult  question.  After  the  lapse  of 
two  or  three  hours  many  of  the  class  were  seen  sneaking 
across  the  halls  to  the  doors  of  the  most  distinguished 
mathematicians  of  the  two  higher  classes  for  assistance. 
Two  of  the  class,  however,  of  respectable,  but  not  eminent 
rank  in  the  class,  seated  themselves  at  their  table,  deter- 
mined to  answer  the  difficult  question  without  assistance. 
They  studied  without  cessation  from  dinner  till  supper,  and 
from  supper  till  late  bedtime,  when  one  of  the  two  gave  up 
that  he  could  not  do  It  and  retired  to  sleep.  The  other  con- 
tinued his  Investigations  most  intensely  till  near  the  break 
of  day,  when  he  aroused  his  sleeping  companion  with  the 

[34] 


INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION 

Archimedean  exclamation,  "Eureka!  Eureka,"  "I  have  dis- 
covered, I  have  done  it."  At  the  mathematical  recitation, 
the  next  day,  every  scholar  in  the  class  confessed  his  in- 
ability to  answer  the  question,  except  the  one  who  had  de- 
voted the  whole  night  to  his  study.  When  he  was  called,  he 
promptly  produced  the  whole  solution  of  the  question  with 
the  demonstration  of  every  step  in  the  process,  drawn  so 
plain,  that  he  who  runs  might  read.  It  was  received  with  a 
shout  of  approbation  from  the  class  and  even  from  the  Pro- 
fessor. And  at  that  moment  that  scholar  appeared  not  only 
to  himself  but  to  the  class  to  have  had  at  least  half  a  cubit 
added  to  his  stature.  He  was  very  soon  unanimously  de- 
clared the  first  mathematician  in  college;  and  though  but  a 
Sophomore,  the  Juniors  and  Seniors  were  not  ashamed  to 
apply  to  him  for  assistance  in  their  mathematical  difficulties. 
This  young  man  was  indebted  for  his  success,  not  to  any  su- 
periority of  intellectual  powers,  but  solely  to  his  unflinching 
perseverance.  He  had  the  self-control  necessary  to  direct 
all  his  energies  to  the  investigation  of  the  question  proposed; 
and  when  all  his  competitors  yielded  to  discouragement  and 
despair,  he  alone  had  the  firmness  to  persevere  till  the  object 
was  attained.  And  his  success  on  this  occasion  formed  a  new 
era  in  his  life.  It  inspired  him  with  new  courage;  he  found 
that  resolute  perseverance  would  overcome  all  obstacles,  or, 
in  scripture  language,  that  "all  things  are  possible  to  him 
that  believeth." 

Nor  is  this  steadfastness  of  purpose,  which  we  call  per- 
severance, necessary  alone  in  the  pursuit  of  science  and 
literature.  It  is  perhaps  equally  necessary  in  every  pursuit 
of  life.  Neither  the  farmer,  the  mechanic,  the  merchant,  nor 
the  statesman  can  succeed  without  it;  and  it  should  be  in- 
culcated not  only  in  our  colleges  and  academies,  but  in  our 
common  and  primary  schools,  and  even  in  our  nurseries, 
Mark  the  difference  between  the  tottling  infant  who,  when 
he  makes  a  misstep  and  falls,  is  immediately  helped  up, 
pitied,  and  caressed;  and  another  who  under  like  circum- 
stances, is  taught  to  make  light  of  it,  and  turn  it  off  with  a 
jest,  or  the  infantile  expression  of  bravery,  "up  again  and 
take  another."  Observe  also  the  man  in  whatever  walks  of 
life,  who  on  the  first  rebufl"  of  fortune  gives  up,  and  asks  the 
pity  and  assistance  of  his  friends,  and  you  will  soon  find  him 

[35] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

without  self-reliance,  without  self-respect  or  the  respect  of 
others,  without  property  and  without  energy,  and  emphati- 
cally a  poor  creature. 

I  urge  this  subject  upon  your  attention,  my  young  friends, 
not  only  for  your  own  sakes,  but  also  for  the  benefit  of  the 
hundreds,  and  thousands,  who  will  shortly  be  under  your 
instruction,  and  the  influence  of  your  examples.  Probably 
within  a  few  weeks  many  of  those  whom  I  now  address,  will 
be  in  the  desks  of  our  district  schools;  others  will  return  to 
the  domestic  circle,  and  the  ordinary  vocations  of  life.  But 
wherever  you  may  be  situated,  strive  to  form  and  promote, 
by  your  example  as  well  as  precept,  in  your  scholars,  in  your 
younger  brothers  and  sisters,  and  all  whom  you  can  influence, 
habits  of  courage  to  encounter  diflliculties,  and  indomitable 
perseverance  in  overcoming  them;  and  let  all  see  that  you 
are  yourselves  influenced  by  the  sacred  injunction,  "What 
soever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do  do  it  with  thy  might  J* 


[36] 


MORAL  EDUCATION 


NOVEMBER  I,   I  849 


MORAL  EDUCATION. 

LECTURE  BY  WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A.,  RANDOLPH  ACADEMY 
NOVEMBER   I,    1 849 

ON  a  former  occasion  education  was  defined  to  mean 
"the  cultivation  of  all  the  faculties,  which  our  Creator 
has  given  us  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  them  most 
useful  to  ourselves  and  others."  But  as  we  have  faculties 
of  three  different  kinds,  so  education  is  properly  divided  into 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral.  The  proper  education  of 
our  physical  powers  alone  we  have  seen  will  make  us  or- 
dinarily healthy,  strong,  and  active.  But  without  intellec- 
tual education,  or  the  cultivation  of  our  minds,  we  should  be 
but  perfect  animals,  but  little  above  the  beasts  that  perish. 
In  a  subsequent  lecture  we  have  had  under  consideration  in- 
tellectual education,  and  endeavored  to  show  how  our  minds 
may  be  trained  to  strength  and  vigor;  how  we  may  be  en- 
abled to  think  closely,  to  investigate  critically  and  patiently 
and  to  judge  correctly.  But  as  the  cultivation  of  our  physical 
faculties  alone  would  make  us  but  perfect  animals,  so  the 
most  perfect  physical  and  intellectual  education,  while  the 
morals  are  uncultivated  and  depraved,  will  but  make  us 
more  powerful  savages.  Physical  and  intellectual  culture 
increase  our  power  to  do  good  or  evil;  but  whether  this  in- 
creased power  shall  be  directed  to  good,  or  to  evil  —  whether 
we  shall  become  the  benefactors  of  mankind,  and  be  loved, 
respected  and  honored  in  this  world,  or  whether  we  shall 
become  the  pests  and  dread  of  community,  depends  en- 
tirely upon  moral  education, 

Mrs.  Seymour  has  very  beautifully,  as  well  as  forcibly, 
expressed  the  effect  of  education  upon  the  human  character, 
in  very  few  words.  She  says,  "The  sculptor  may  form  from 
the  block  of  marble  before  him  either  an  angel,  or  a  devil; 
so  the  soul  may  be  made  either  a  seraph's  home,  or  a  demon's 
haunt;  and  do  you  not  know,  parent,  teacher,  that  it  is 
your  hand  that  fashions  the  abode,  and  beckons  thither  the 
visitant?"  But  I  would  add,  it  is  the  moral  education  alone 
which  determines  whether  our  souls  shall  be  the  receptacle 
of  the  seraph  or  of  a  demon.  If  a  person  has  been  trainee  to 
the  love  and  practice  of  all  the  moral  virtues,  he  will  be  loved 
and  respected  by  all  good  beings,  however  small  his  physical 
and  intellectual  powers  may  be;  his  soul  will  be  the  home 

[39] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

not  of  a  seraph  only,  but  of  the  holy  spirit;  while  on  the  con- 
trary, however  perfect  a  man's  physical  and  intellectual 
powers  may  be,  yet  if  he  has  been  trained  or  suffered  to  dis- 
regard moral  principle,  and  follow  the  dictates  of  his  own 
passions  and  appetites,  though  his  superior  powers  may 
cause  him  to  be  feared,  he  never  can  be  loved;  his  soul  is 
filled  with  hatred  and  malice,  and  not  only  will  be,  hut  is 
a  "demon's  haunt."  How  important  then  is  correct  moral 
education. 

In  my  introductory  lecture  it  was  asserted  that  our 
Creator  had  given  the  faculty  of  deciding  between  moral 
right  and  wrong,  as  we  decide  upon  natural  objects,  such  as 
figures,  colors,  sounds,  etc.,  by  our  senses. 

This  power  of  distinguishing  the  moral  character  of  ac- 
tions intuitively,  or  without  any  process  of  reasoning  is 
called,  by  some,  the  moral  sense;  and  as  it  uniformly  ap- 
proves, what  it  decides  to  be  morally  right,  and  condemns 
moral  wrong,  it  is  called  conscience.  But  by  whatever  name 
it  is  called,  we  have  such  a  faculty;  and  like  our  physical 
and  intellectual  faculties  it  is  capable  of  improvement  by 
constant  exercise,  or  of  becoming  inert  and  almost  entirely 
useless  by  neglect,  and  by  constantly  disregarding  its 
admonitions.  And  how  grateful  should  we  be  to  the  author 
of  our  being,  that  He  has  given  us  not  only  sight,  hearing, 
and  our  other  senses  to  guard  us  against  the  approach  of 
natural  evils,  but  that  He  has  also  given  us  this  moral  sense 
to  guard  against  moral  evils;  and  we  should  cultivate  this 
faculty  with  as  much  greater  care  than  we  do  our  physical 
and  intellectual  faculties,  as  moral  evil,  or  sin,  is  more  to  be 
dreaded  than  all  natural  evils. 

The  first  step  towards  a  correct  moral  education  should  be, 
deeply  to  impress  upon  the  mind  of  the  child,  or  pupil,  the 
nature  of  moral  obligations.  They  should  be  taught,  as  soon 
as  they  are  capable  of  receiving  moral  instruction,  some- 
thing of  the  character  of  God;  that  He  is  the  great  and  good 
being,  who  made  all  things;  that  He  made  us  and  sustains 
us  in  life;  that  He  has  made  us  capable  of  enjoying  happi- 
ness, and  surrounded  us  with  objects  calculated  to  promote 
our  happiness;  that  He  has  given  us  a  law,  called  the  moral 
law,  calculated  to  ensure  to  us  the  greatest  degree  of  happi- 
ness which  we  are  capable  of  enjoying  both  in  this  life  and 

[40] 


MORAL  EDUCATION 

through  eternity.  They  should  also  be  taught  the  penalty^ 
which  God  has  annexed  to  the  breach  of  His  law,  or  the 
punishment,  which  He  will  inflict  on  those  who  disregard  it. 
We  should  also  show  them  that  God  is  everywhere,  and  al- 
ways present;  that  He  sees  and  knows  all  we  do,  or  say,  or 
think;  that  if  we  indulge  wicked  passions  or  desires.  He 
knows,  and  that  for  every  secret  thing,  as  well  as  for  every 
idle  word  He  will  bring  us  into  judgment. 

I  should  have  mentioned,  before  this,  one  indispensable 
part  of  education,  which  is  obedience^  or  submission  to  those 
who  are  placed  over  us.  Whether  this  pertains  exclusively 
to  moral  education,  or  not,  I  will  not  now  take  the  time  to 
decide.  It  is  certainly  of  high  moral  obligation,  though  it 
must  be  taught  to  the  child,  to  be  effectively  taught,  before 
he  is  old  enough  to  be  capable  of  moral  action.  It  is  so 
intimately  connected  with  all  the  branches  of  education, 
that  neither  physical,  intellectual  nor  moral  education,  can 
be  profitably  pursued  without  it.  Every  child  must  be  taught 
implicit  obedience  to  all  commands  or  requisitions  emanating 
from  competent  authority,  whether  from  parents,  teachers, 
guardians,  or  the  civil  government.  And  this  must  always 
be  taught,  in  the  first  instance,  by  physical  force.  As  soon 
as  the  child  is  old  enough  to  understand  what  you  require 
of  him,  and  resists,  which  will  commonly  happen  during  the 
first  year,  the  parent  should  convince  the  child  by  actual 
experiment,  that  he  has  sufficient  strength  to  enforce  obedi- 
ence. Let  him  in  a  calm,  dispassionate,  but  determined  man- 
ner, take  firm  hold  of  the  child  and  force  him  into  the  posi- 
tion which  he  required  him  to  take,  and  hold  him  there  till 
he  ceases  struggling  and  becomes  tranquil;  this  will  ordinarily 
take  but  a  few  minutes.  The  child  will  have  learned  by  that 
one  lesson,  that  resistance  is  vain,  and  will  never  again  try 
it  with  any  considerable  degree  of  obstinacy.  Let  the  parent 
govern  his  own  passions,  always  enforce  obedience  with 
mildness  but  with  inflexible  firmness,  and  he  will  seldom  need 
to  have  recourse  to  the  rod  or  any  other  species  of  corporal 
chastisements.  As  the  child  advances  in  age  and  under- 
standing, explain  to  him  the  propriety  of  your  requisitions 
and  the  necessity  of  obedience;  teach  him  the  moral  obliga- 
tions which  rest  upon  him,  and  the  rewards  promised  to 
filial  obedience,  teach  him  to  repeat  the  fifth  commandment, 

[41] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

and  the  various  texts  of  scripture  which  command  obedience 
and  submission  to  parents  and  others  who  are  set  over  us. 

When  a  child  has  once  been  thoroughly  taught  to  honor 
and  obey  his  parents,  he  will  cheerfully  render  proper  re- 
spect and  obedience  to  his  teachers  and  all  under  whose  care 
he  may  be  placed;  and  he  is  prepared  to  properly  receive 
and  regard  instruction  in  all  the  branches  of  education.  He 
is  then,  and  not  till  then,  prepared  to  enter  upon  moral 
education. 

I  have  introduced  this  subject  in  this  lecture  on  moral 
education,  without  inquiring  whether  this  is  its  most  ap- 
propriate place,  because  I  had  omitted  it  in  former  lectures, 
because  it  is  exceedingly  important,  and  because  it  has  been 
for  some  years  past  lamentably  disregarded.  Whoever  has 
been  an  attentive  observer  of  passing  events  for  fifty  or 
sixty  years  past  cannot  fail  to  have  observed,  that  family 
discipline  has  been  exceedingly  relaxed  during  that  time. 
Children  do  not  treat  their  parents,  their  teachers  and  other 
superiors  with  that  deference  and  respect,  which  they  for- 
merly did.  They  are  allowed  to  consider  themselves  "hale 
fellows  well  met,"  with  all  with  whom  they  may  come  in 
contact,  however  much  their  superiors,  in  age,  in  under- 
standing, or  in  rank  and  station  in  society.  If  a  question  is 
asked  them  by  a  parent,  a  stranger,  or  a  gentleman  of  ofiicial 
dignity,  instead  of  the  respectful  answer  which  would  have 
been  formerly  given,  they  answer  with  the  gruff  mono- 
syllable yeSy  or  no^  which  even  thirty  years  ago  would  have 
banished  them  from  all  society  making  the  least  claim  to 
good  breeding,  or  even  civility.  This  is  but  a  small  thing  in 
itself,  but  the  smallest  and  lightest  substances  show  most 
accurately  which  way  the  wind  blows.  It  may  be  said  this 
is  now  the  fashion.  True  it  is  the  fashion  in  many  families, 
in  many  schools,  and  communities;  but  in  what  did  that 
fashion  originate,  and  what  are  its  tendencies?  It  originated 
in  that  laxness  of  family  and  school  discipline,  which  tends 
directly  to  the  overthrow  of  all  government  not  only  in 
families,  but  in  schools,  in  States  and  nations.  Whenever 
children  are  suffered  to  treat  their  parents  with  disrespect, 
and  disobey  their  commands,  those  children  will  be  dis- 
orderly and  unruly  scholars;  they  will  most  need  correction, 
but  their  parents  will  be  first  to  take  oflfence  if  their  children 

[4a] 


MORAL  EDUCATION 

receive  proper  correction;  and  if  they  cannot  prevail  to  turn 
out  the  instructor,  will  take  their  children  from  school. 
And  it  needs  not  the  spirit  of  prophecy  to  foretell  that  those 
children  will  become  disorderly  citizens,  will  disobey  the  laws 
of  the  land,  and  very  probably  end  their  temporal  career 
in  prison  or  on  the  gallows.  I  can  never  see  children  manifest 
a  spirit  of  insubordination  and  disobedience  to  their  parents 
without  anticipating  that  they  will  soon  exhibit  all  those 
hateful  traits  of  character  which  St.  Paul  has  connected 
with  it,  when  describing  a  most  depraved  community,  in 
the  first  chapter  of  the  Romans  he  says,  "disobedient  to  par- 
ents, (heady,  highminded),  without  understanding,  covenant 
breakers,  without  natural  affection,  implacable,  unmerciful." 
Almost  all  our  social  vices  may  be  traced  to  laxness  of  family 
discipline.  It  remains  still  true  as  in  the  days  of  Solomon,  that 
"Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old 
he  will  not  depart  from  it;"  "but  a  child  left  to  himself"  that 
is  without  parental  restraint,  "bringeth  his  mother  to  shame." 
I  have  mentioned  a  laxness  of  family  discipline  as  a  pre- 
vailing evil  in  these  days;  but  I  am  happy  that  there  are  some 
honorable  exceptions;  families  in  which  children  have  been 
taught  to  obey  their  parents;  where  the  parents  have  uni- 
formly governed  with  kindness,  though  with  strictness; 
always  seeing  that  their  commands  are  reasonable,  and  en- 
deavoring to  let  the  child  see  that  they  are  moved  by  par- 
ental love  both  in  issuing  the  command  and  in  enforcing 
obedience;  never  suffering  the  slightest  disobedience  to  go 
unnoticed,  though  never  reproving  or  punishing  in  anger 
or  with  severity;  for  in  families  as  in  States  it  is  not  the 
severity,  but  the  certainty  of  punishment,  which  prevents 
transgression.  Parents  who  so  govern  their  families  will 
always  be  loved  and  honored  by  their  children  and  de- 
scendants to  the  latest  generation.  I  have  in  my  mind  a 
family  which  has  been  so  trained,  in  which  the  aged  parents, 
their  children,  and  grandchildren  of  mature  age,  all  reside 
in  the  same  house,  eat  at  the  same  table,  and  constitute 
but  one  family.  The  most  perfect  harmony  and  affection 
prevail  through  the  whole.  They  feel  a  perfect  unity  of  in- 
terest. No  personal  or  private  inclinations  or  wishes  are  suf- 
fered to  interfere  with  the  common  good.  The  aged  patriarch 
when  seeing  his  grandchildren,  can  say  to  his  son,  as  the 

[43] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

patriarch  Jacob  said  to  his  son  Joseph  when  presenting  his 
two  sons:  "These  thy  two  sons  are  mine;  as  Reuben  and 
Simeon,  so  Manasseh  and  Ephraim  shall  be  mine."  Such 
families  will  be  esteemed  and  loved;  and  whatever  their 
talents  or  station  in  life  may  be,  they  will  be  respected. 

But  to  return  from  this,  which  you  may  consider  a  di- 
gression, to  the  subject  proposed  for  this  lecture,  moral 
education, 

God  has  given  us,  as  I  have  before  observed,  a  moral 
sense,  capable,  if  properly  heeded,  of  pointing  out  to  us  what 
is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  and  which  will  infallibly  reprove 
us  when  we  have  done  wrong  and  approve  when  we  have  done 
right.  But  this,  when  first  given  to  us,  is  like  our  physical 
and  intellectual  faculties,  but  the  germ  of  what  it  is  in- 
tended to  become.  Like  our  other  faculties  it  requires  edu- 
cation. But  how  are  our  moral  faculties  to  be  educated  that 
they  may  be  most  useful  to  ourselves  and  others  ?  I  answer, 
like  our  physical  and  intellectual  faculties,  by  constant  and 
proper  exercise  and  use.  We  have  seen  that  if  we  do  not 
exercise  the  arm  it  will  never  become  strong  and  vigorous; 
and  if  we  do  not  exercise  our  mental  faculties,  each  and  all  of 
them,  those  which  are  neglected  become  inactive  and  al- 
most entirely  useless.  So  our  moral  sense,  or  power  of  dis- 
criminating between  right  and  wrong,  by  neglect  and  long 
disuse  becomes  almost  entirely  dormant  and  useless. 

The  objects  to  be  constantly  aimed  at  in  moral  education 
are  two. 

1st.  So  to  train  our  moral  sense  that  its  power  of  dis- 
criminating between  moral  right  and  wrong  may  be  so 
acute  that  it  shall  instantly  decide  the  moral  character  of 
every  action,  and  decide  it  with  infallible  accuracy;  and 

2d.  To  render  its  reproofs  of  moral  wrong  so  pungent 
that  we  dare  not  disobey  its  dictates. 

The  attainment  of  the  first  of  these  objects  seems  closely 
allied  to  intellectual  education.  We  must  be  able  in  some 
measure  to  trace  the  relation  between  cause  and  eff'ect;  to 
see  the  remote,  as  well  as  the  immediate,  consequences  of 
an  action;  and  as  the  will  of  God  is  the  ground  of  all  moral 
obligation,  our  moral  sense  should  be  enlightened,  to  know 
what  the  will  of  God  is  in  all  circumstances  in  which  we  may 
be  called  to  act.  To  us,  who  enjoy  the  light  of  revelation, 

[44] 


MORAL  EDUCATION 

this  IS  exceedingly  easy.  God  has  made  known  His  will  to 
us  so  plain,  that  "he  who  runs  may  read."  He  has  given  us 
His  law  for  the  regulation  of  our  moral  conduct,  which,  as 
we  have  been  taught  in  our  infancy,  "is  summarily  compre- 
hended in  the  ten  commandments."  And  again,  to  bring 
the  whole,  our  religious  and  moral  duties,  into  so  small  a 
compass  that  they  may  be  understood  by  the  least  culti- 
vated intellect.  He  has  told  us  that,  the  sum  of  the  ten 
commandments  is,  to  love  the  Lord  our  God  with  all  our 
heart,  and  with  our  soul,  and  with  all  our  strength,  and  with 
our  mind;  and  our  neighbors  as  ourselves.  And  to  make 
our  rule  of  moral  duty,  or  our  duties  to  our  fellow  creatures 
(which  are  commonly  called  moral  duties,  in  distinction  to 
the  duties  which  we  owe  more  immediately  to  God,  and  are 
called  religious  duties)  still  more  plain  He  has  given  a  rule 
so  short  and  simple  that  the  most  unenlightened  cannot 
mistake  it,  viz.:  "As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you," 
(that  is  in  exchange  of  conditions)  "do  ye  also  to  them  like- 
wise." So  that  in  any  possible  case  of  our  conduct  toward 
others  our  moral  sense  has  only  to  decide  what  we  should 
wish  others  to  do,  if  in  our  place,  and  that  decides  our  duty. 

And  to  those  who  do  not  enjoy  the  light  of  revelation 
God  has  given  this  moral  sense;  and  He  has  manifested  in  His 
works,  His  character  and  His  will  sufficiently  to  enable  this 
moral  sense  to  decide  their  duty  under  all  circumstances. 
As  Paul  says,  "These  having  not  the  law  are  a  law  unto 
themselves,  their  conscience  also  bearing  witness,  and  accus- 
ing or  else  excusing  one  another."  Thus  all,  whether  in 
heathen  or  Christian  lands,  have  been  furnished  with  suf- 
ficient means  for  knowing  their  duty,  and  are  without 
excuse  if  they  neglect  to  improve  and  cultivate  them. 

To  render  our  moral  sense  acute  in  distinguishing  between 
moral  right  and  wrong  it  must  be  constantly  exercised. 
The  physician  is  more  acute  in  distinguishing  between  dis- 
eases, and  the  merchant,  and  tailor  in  deciding  upon  the 
quality  of  cloths,  than  other  men;  and  why.^  Because  their 
discriminating  powers  have  been  more  constantly  exercised 
on  those  subjects.  So  the  person  who  constantly  exercises 
his  moral  sense  in  deciding  upon  every  contemplated  ac- 
tion, whose  moral  character  has  not  been  already  decided, 
will  find  his  discriminating  powers  exceedingly  improved. 

[45] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

His  perceptions  of  moral  right  and  wrong  will  be  intuitive 
and  infallible. 

But  we  may  know  what  is  right,  but  do  what  is  wrong; 
or  in  the  words  of  the  poet,  may  be  compelled  to  say 

"  I  know  the  right,  and  I  approve  it  too, 
I  know  the  wrong,  and  yet  the  wrong  pursue." 

To  save  this  most  dreadful  condition  of  voluntarily  and 
deliberately  doing  what  we  know  to  be  wrong,  we  must  at- 
tend to  what  I  have  called  the  second  object  to  be  aimed  at 
in  moral  education,  viz.:  "to  render  the  reproofs  of  con- 
science so  pungent  and  severe  that  we  dare  not  disobey  its 
dictates." 

To  attain  this  we  need  only  to  give  heed  to  its  admoni- 
tions. The  reproofs  of  conscience  are  sufficiently  severe  to 
cause  any  one  to  writhe  under  them,  who  has  not  by  slow 
and  imperceptible  degrees  become  hardened  in  guilt.  When 
the  child  is  first  made  sensible  that  he  has  done  wrong,  he 
feels  very  keenly  the  reproofs  of  conscience,  he  is  grieved  and 
weeps.  If  he  is  kindly  but  gravely  admonished  by  the  par- 
ents, and  properly  instructed,  he  will  strive  to  avoid  the  re- 
currence of  a  similar  scene;  he  will  guard  against  tempta- 
tion. His  conscience  will  remain  tender,  and  its  reproofs  so 
pungent  that  he  would  never  again  willingly  incur  them. 
His  conscience  will  continue  to  be  his  kind  but  vigilant  and 
faithful  monitor  so  long  as  he  continues  to  give  heed  to  its 
admonitions. 

But  on  the  contrary  if  when  a  child  first  feels  the  reproofs 
of  conscience  for  a  fault  committed,  his  parents  or  misguided 
and  misguiding  friends  strive  to  divert  his  mind  from  his 
remorse;  tell  him  "never  mind  it,"  or  encourage  him  to  a 
repetition  of  the  immoral  act,  that  child's  conscience  will 
become  less  and  less  sensitive,  and  its  reproofs  not  only  less 
frequent  but  less  severe,  until  the  unhappy  transgressor  sins 
without  restraint  and  without  remorse.  We  have  seen  in- 
stances where  persons  have  disregarded  the  reproofs  of  con- 
science in  what  might  be  called  small  immoralities,  if  any 
sin  can  with  propriety  be  called  small,  and  proceeded  from 
step  to  step  till  they  could  commit  the  most  flagrant  sins 
without  compunction,  the  very  thought  of  which  in  the  com- 

[46] 


MORAL  EDUCATION 

mencement  of  their  career  would  have  caused  them  to  shud- 
der. They  had  resisted  the  reproofs  of  conscience,  and  those 
reproofs  have  become  less  and  less  pungent,  till  they  have 
almost  if  not  entirely  ceased.  Their  consciences  have  become, 
in  scripture  phraseology,  "Seared  as  with  an  hot  iron,"  and 
have  ceased  to  reprove  them. 

But  let  not  the  hardened  transgressor  flatter  himself, 
though  conscience  at  present  is  dormant,  that  she  will  give 
him  no  farther  trouble.  She  is  not  dead,  nor  will  she  always 
sleep.  The  time  will  come,  though  perhaps  not  till  he  is 
stretched  on  his  dying  bed,  when  she  will  resume  her  proper 
functions;  will  set  all  his  sins  in  order,  before  him,  and  her 
reproofs  will  be  like  the  bite  of  a  scorpion  and  unless  he  heeds 
her  admonitions  will  in  the  future  world  become  in  his 
bosom  "the  worm  which  never  dies." 

Of  all  the  branches  of  education,  it  will  be  readily  ad- 
mitted that  moral  education  is  infinitely  the  most  impor- 
tant. For  though  neither  of  them  should  be  neglected,  yet 
it  is  far  better  to  neglect  both  physical  and  intellectual 
than  moral  education.  For  however  imperfect  and  infirm 
our  physical  system  may  be,  and  however  uncultivated  our 
intellectual  faculties,  if  we  have  been  taught  to  "  keep 
a  conscience  void  of  offence  towards  God  and  towards  man," 
we  shall  have  peace  within;  that  peace  of  which  all  temporal 
sufferings  cannot  deprive  us,  and  we  shall  be  happy  in  the 
prospect  of  a  glorious  immortality.  We  have  probably  most 
of  us  seen  instances  of  this  kind;  and  on  the  other  hand  we 
have  seen  men  of  firm  health  and  strength,  and  highly 
cultivated  intellects,  but  whose  morals  were  depraved;  and 
we  have  found  them  void  of  peace  either  inward,  or  outward; 
at  variance  with  others,  at  variance  with  themselves,  and  at 
variance  with  their  Maker;  for  the  God  of  truth  has  said 
"There  is  no  peace  to  the  wicked."  Let  parents  then,  and 
all  who  have  the  instruction  of  children  and  youth,  make 
moral  education  their  principal  concern.  The  other  branches 
of  education  should  by  no  means  be  neglected;  but  children 
and  pupils  should  be  taught  to  draw  moral  instruction  from 
every  lesson,  and  from  every  event  of  life.  Their  moral  sense 
should  be  constantly  appealed  to,  and  their  moral  percep- 
tions, or  their  perceptions  of  right  and  wrong,  rendered  clear 
and  distinct.  They  should  be  taught  on  all  occasions  to 

[47] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

render  implicit  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  conscience.  In 
the  language  of  the  Scotch  poet, 

"Its  slightest  touches,  instant  pause  — 
Debar  a'  side  pretences, 
An'  resolutely  keep  its  laws 
Unheeding  consequences." 

They  should  be  taught  in  sincerity  to  say  the  prayer  of 
the  great  English  poet, 

"What  conscience  warns  me  not  to  do 
Or  whispers,  must  be  done, 
This  teach  me  more  than  heaven  t'  pursue, 
That  more  than  hell,  to  shun." 


They  must  be  taught  to  obey  even  the  "whispers"  of 
conscience;  to  shrink  at  even  "its  slightest  touches." 

An  old  English  proverb  says,  "Take  care  of  the  pence, 
and  the  pounds  will  take  care  of  themselves."  This  is  equally 
applicable  to  moral  education  as  to  domestic  economy. 
Children  should  be  guarded  against  what  they  would  call 
small  violations  of  the  moral  law.  No  person  ever  became 
grossly  wicked  at  once.  He  begins  by  small  and  almost 
imperceptible  deviations  from  the  straight  line  of  moral 
rectitude;  but  as  he  proceeds  in  the  downward  course,  the 
angle  of  deviation  becomes  greater  and  greater,  till  he  de- 
scends perpendicularly  Into  the  pit.  The  intemperate  man 
began  by  taking  but  a  social  glass,  for  which  his  conscience 
gave  him  a  slight  reproof.  He  disregarded  that,  and  went  on 
slowly  at  first,  adding  sin  to  sin  with  increasing  velocity,  till 
he  is  precipitated  Into  the  drunkard's  grave.  Many  a  child 
has  begun  with  small  acts  of  disobedience  to  his  parents,  and 
in  time  advanced  to  the  most  daring  violation  of  all  laws, 
human  and  divine.  So  the  profane  person,  the  thief  and  the 
murderer,  have  advanced  from  small  beginnings,  constantly 
stiffling  the  voice  of  conscience,  to  their  present  state  of  sin 
and  infamy. 

Well  did  the  ancient  philosopher  and  moralist  say  to  his 
pupils  ^^ohster  principiis;^^  resist  the  first  deviations  from  the 
most  strict  moral  rectitude.  This  should  be  constantly  incul- 

[48] 


MORAL  EDUCATION 

cated.  '^Facilis  descensus  AvernV^  The  downward  road  to 
ruin  is  rapid. 

When  a  child  or  youth  has  taken  the  first  step  in  it,  it  is 
comparatively  easy  to  reclaim  him  and  set  him  again  in  the 
right  way;  but  suffer  him  to  proceed  unchecked,  and  he  will 
soon  be  irreclaimable.  When  a  stone  begins  to  move  down 
an  inclined  plane,  a  child  may  stop  it;  but  let  it  proceed  and 
its  impetus  increases  with  every  revolution  till  a  giant's 
strength  will  not  be  able  to  check  it. 

The  warning  voice  of  parents  and  instructors  will  do  much 
to  prevent  children  and  youths  from  going  astray  and  to  re- 
claim them  from  their  errors,  if  seasonably,  kindly  and 
judiciously  applied.  Show  them  the  odiousness,  as  well  as  sin- 
fulness, of  vice  of  every  description.  Show  them  that  every 
deviation  from  the  strict  rule  of  moral  rectitude  lowers  them 
in  the  estimation  of  all  beings  whose  esteem  is  worth  seeking. 
Teach  the  strictness  of  the  moral  law;  that  there  are  no  in- 
different actions,  but  every  action,  even  the  most  trifling,  in 
itself  considered,  has  a  positive  moral  character,  either  goody 
or  had.  Teach  them  to  estimate  the  remote,  as  well  as  the 
immediate  consequences  of  an  action,  in  order  to  determine 
whether  it  is  morally  right  or  wrong.  Teach  them  that  the 
moral  law  requires  us  so  to  act  as  that  every  action  shall  be 
calculated  to  produce  the  greatest  degree  of  happiness  to 
ourselves  and  others.  If  therefore  a  certain  contemplated  act 
would  add  a  small  degree  to  our  own  happiness,  but  would 
diminish  the  happiness  of  others,  or  of  any  other  person  in  a 
greater  degree,  we  are  bound  to  refrain  from  it.  So  if  the 
immediate  consequences  of  our  action  would  be  good  but 
its  remote  consequences  would  be  in  a  greater  degree  evil, 
we  are  bound  to  refrain  from  it.  Thus  the  taking  a  glass  of 
spirits  might  under  certain  circumstances  relieve  us  from 
some  temporary  indisposition;  yet  if  it  would  tend  remotely 
to  lead  us  to  habits  of  intemperance,  or  if  our  example  would 
encourage  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  by  others,  we  are  bound 
to  forego  the  gratification  or  benefit  to  ourselves,  to  save  the 
fatal  effects  of  our  example  upon  others.  An  action  may  be 
morally  right  and  a  positive  good  in  itself,  which  would  be 
productive  of  great  evil  in  its  consequences;  and  if  the  evil 
arising  from  its  consequences  would  over-balance  its  imme- 
diate good,  it  should  be  avoided.  For  instance,  a  benevolent 

[49] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

Northern  man  removes  into  a  slave  State;  the  slave  of  a 
cruel  master  is  for  sale.  The  Northern  man  is  moved  solely 
by  benevolent  motives  to  purchase  the  slave,  that  he  may 
make  him  more  happy,  but  he  ought  before  he  makes  the 
purchase  to  consider  whether  his  benevolent  act  will  not 
on  the  whole  result  in  an  injury  to  the  cause  of  emancipa- 
tion, through  his  example  in  favor  of  slavery,  more  than 
sufficient  to  counterbalance  the  good  conferred  on  the  par- 
ticular slave  by  the  purchase.  And  so  of  a  great  portion  of 
our  actions,  their  moral  character  cannot  be  determined 
without  taking  into  the  account  their  remote  consequences. 

Children  and  youth  should  be  solemnly  impressed  with  a 
sense  of  their  moral  accountability,  and  of  that  Being  to 
whom  they  are  accountable.  Above  all  they  should  be  taught 
the  omnipresence  of  that  Being.  They  should  be  taught  to 
feel  constantly  what  Hagar  said,  who,  when  fleeing  from  her 
mistress,  was  reproved  by  a  voice  from  heaven,  "Thou,  God, 
seest  me."  Nothing  can  so  powerfully  restrain  us  from  mis- 
conduct, as  the  presence  of  a  superior  who  has  been  con- 
stantly kind  to  us,  and  on  whom  we  are  absolutely  dependent, 
and  whom  therefore  we  love  and  fear.  Would  we,  volun- 
tarily, or  could  we  be  persuaded,  in  the  presence  of  such  a  per- 
son, to  do  that  which  we  knew  would  displease  him?  How 
then  could  we  dare,  if  we  realized  that  the  great  Being  who 
confers  upon  us  all  our  blessings,  and  in  whose  hand  are  our 
destinies  for  time  and  eternity,  was  constantly  present  and 
seeing  all  that  we  do,  how  should  we  dare  to  do  the  most 
trifling  act  which  would  be  offensive  to  Him.  Who  could 
deliberately,  or  even  thoughtlessly,  sin,  or  violate  the  moral 
law,  if  at  the  moment  he  was  impressed  with  the  truth, 
"Thou,  God,  seest  me?"  I  believe  I  may  safely  answer,  not 
one. 

Let  me  relate  an  incident  in  real  life  confirmative  of  this 
belief.  You  may  all  have  read  it,  but  it  still  is  worth  repeat- 
ing. It  is  this: 

The  little  son  of  a  wicked  father  went  to  the  Sabbath 
School,  and  was  there  taught  something  of  the  character  of 
God,  and  particularly  His  omnipresence;  that  He  sees  every- 
thing which  we  do  whether  alone  or  in  company,  in  darkness 
or  in  light.  One  dark  evening  the  wicked  father  called  the 
little  son  to  go  with  him  to  pick  a  basket  of  corn  in  a  neigh- 

[50] 


MORAL  EDUCATION 

bor's  field.  The  father  began  to  pick  the  corn,  but  the  son 
hesitated  and  asked,  "Father,  did  Mr.  Smith  tell  you  that 
you  might  pick  corn  in  his  field .^"  "No,  but  he  will  never 
know  it."  "Then  it  is  stealing,  is  it  not,  father,  and  we  shall 
be  punished.?"  "Pshaw!  Nobody  sees  us;  make  haste  and 
pick  the  corn."  "But  then  somebody  sees  us,  father;  God 
is  looking  right  at  us,  and  He  has  said.  Thou  shah  not  steal.^^ 
The  father  was  struck;  and  after  trembling  a  few  moments 
in  silence,  he  emptied  the  corn  from  his  basket,  and  said, 
"Come,  we'll  go  home  and  let  the  corn  alone."  He  was  con- 
victed of  his  sin  and  prevented  from  committing  it  by  this 
simple  solemn  appeal;  repented  and  became  a  good  man. 
And  would  not  any  person  be  stopped  in  the  commission  of  a 
contemplated  sin  by  reflecting  that  the  great  God,  whose 
command  he  was  violating,  was  "Looking  right  at  him?" 

I  will  take  the  liberty  to  relate  another  incident  of  which 
I  was  informed  last  year  by  a  scholar  of  this  school.  My  in- 
formation may  have  been  incorrect;  but  it  was  this.  The 
bell  rope  at  that  time  passed  down  into  the  passageway,  and 
as  the  school  would  be  interrupted  by  irregular  ringing,  the 
Preceptor  had  strictly  forbidden  any  person  but  the  bell- 
man to  ring  it.  One  day  four  or  five  lads  from  12  to  15  years 
old  were  in  the  passageway,  and  as  no  one  was  in  sight, 
wished  to  make  a  little  fun  by  ringing  the  bell  contrary  to 
orders.  They  determined  all  of  them  together  to  pull  the 
rope,  and  then,  if  examined,  each  to  say,  he  did  not  do  it. 
They  did  so,  and  when  they  were  called  in  and  questioned 
by  the  Preceptor,  each  answered,  "I  did  not  do  it;"  till  the 
last  was  called  upon,  and  had  the  moral  courage  and  in- 
tegrity, and  the  manhood,  to  tell  the  truth  and  confess  his 
faults.  Now  would  these  youths  have  committed  either  of 
these  violations  of  the  moral  law,  if  they  had  been  aware  that 
"God  was  looking  right  at  them.?"  They  dare  not  violate  the 
Preceptor's  command  in  his  presence  and  would  they  have 
dared  violate  two  commandments  of  that  Being  who  is  in- 
finitely above  the  Preceptor,  and  that  right  before  His  face  ? 

I  may  have  been  misinformed  relative  to  the  facts  I  have 
narrated;  but  let  it  be  a  supposed  case,  and  it  answers  my 
present  purpose  just  as  well.  I  wish  to  direct  your  attention 
to  it  as  a  supposed  case.  These  supposed  lads  probably  had 
no  ill  will  against  the  Preceptor  but  merely  wished  to  have  a 

[51] 


WILLIAM  NUTTING,  M.A. 

little  sport;  but  did  they  not  violate  the  moral  law  In  pulling 
the  bell  rope?  They  certainly  did;  they  certainly  did;  they 
disobeyed  the  command  of  the  Preceptor  whom  it  was  their 
duty  to  obey.  And  in  their  answers  to  the  Preceptor's  in- 
quiries were  they  not  guilty  of  violating  God's  command  to 
*' Speak  the  truth  every  one  to  his  neighbor"  for  the  word 
lying  includes  "all  intentional  deception."  Suppose  the  Pre- 
ceptor should  say  to  me  "I  understand  that  some  one  of  my 
scholars  last  night  broke  into  the  library  and  stole  from  it 
several  valuable  books;  do  you  know  who  it  was?"  I  should 
answer,  "I  do  sir."  He  should  say,  "Who  was  it?"  Suppose  I 
did  it  myself,  but  instead  of  telling  the  truth  I  should  point 
my  finger  at  a  particular  scholar  and  make  the  Preceptor 
believe  that  scholar  was  the  culprit;  what  sin  should  I  by  so 
doing  have  committed?  I  should  have  been  guilty  of  lying, 
and  of  bearing  false  witness  against  my  neighbor;  and  this 
without  speaking  a  word. 

But  let  me  turn  your  attention  again  to  the  young  man  who 
told  the  truth  among  the  supposed  bell  ringers,  and  ask 
your  opinion;  did  he  not,  or  would  he  not,  if  such  a  case 
should  again  happen,  rise  a  hundred  per  cent  in  your  estima- 
tion above  those  who  were  guilty  of  equivocation  to  conceal 
their  fault?  and  did  he  noX.  feel  a  thousand  per  cent  better 
than  they  did?  Aside  from  the  sin  of  it,  there  is  a  meanness 
in  resorting  to  falsehood  to  conceal  a  fault  to  which  no 
honorable  mind  can  ever  descend.  Let  me  entreat  you  never 
to  be  guilty  of  it.  If  you  should  ever  be  guilty  of  a  fault,  as 
we  all  are  liable  to,  be  noble  enough  to  walk  up  ingenuously 
and  confess  it,  without  waiting  to  be  questioned,  and  if 
possible,  before  you  are  suspected.  This  is  the  only  way  in 
which  you  can  regain,  or  rise  in,  the  estimation  of  others,  and 
the  only  way  to  enjoy  inward  peace. 

The  subject  of  education,  and  especially  of  moral  educa- 
tion, is  one  in  which  I  feel  a  very  deep  interest.  I  wished  to 
say  much  more  to  you  upon  the  subject;  but  neither  my  time, 
nor  the  proper  limits  of  such  an  address  will  now  permit,  — 
I  intended  to  have  pointed  out  to  you  the  inseparable  con- 
nection which  exists  between  true  morality  and  religion; 
that  without  the  latter,  the  former  has  no  safe  ground  on 
which  to  rest.  And  I  intended  also  to  have  pointed  out,  and 
guarded  you  against,  some  of  the  more  prevalent  immorali- 
ties to  which  you  will  be  liable;  but  I  must  forbear. 

[52] 


MORAL  EDUCATION 

Of  all  the  great  improvements  of  the  present  age  none  is 
so  important  to  present  or  future  generations  as  improve- 
ment in  morals  and  though  I  myself  have  almost  reached  my 
three  score  years  and  ten  and  must  soon  leave  this  stage  of 
action,  yet  I  have  children  and  grandchildren  who  must 
share  with  you  "in  weal  or  woe."  I  therefore  feel  that  I  have 
a  personal  interest  in  your  welfare.  I  realize  that  you  and  the 
generation  growing  up  with  you,  will  soon  possess  all  which 
we  now  "fondly  call  our  own."  That  all  our  property,  all 
our  great  improvements,  our  factories,  our  railroads,  steam- 
boats and  telegraphs;  all  our  charitable  institutions,  and 
benevolent  societies,  and  all  our  schools  and  colleges,  will 
be  under  your  control,  in  a  very  short  time.  That  from  you 
and  those  of  your  age  will  soon  be  elected  all  our  officers  of 
government,  our  legislators,  our  judges,  our  governors,  and 
presidents;  and  in  short  that  you,  and  your  contemporaries, 
will  in  twenty  or  thirty  years,  humanly  speaking,  control  the 
destinies  of  the  world.  Can  I  then  avoid  anxiety  that  you 
should  be  qualified  for  these  important  stations  ?  My  young 
friends,  my  heart's  desire  is,  that  you  may  be  so  educated 
that  you  may  "grow  in  stature  and  in  wisdom,  and  in  favor 
with  God  and  man."  These  are  the  objects  of  the  three 
branches  of  education  on  which  I  have  been  addressing  you. 


[S3] 


EXPERIENCES  AND  OBSERVATIONS  OF  AN 

AMERICAN  MEDICAL  MISSIONARY  IN  ASIATIC 

TURKEY— 1876 

BT  DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 


EXPERIENCES   AND   OBSERVATIONS   OF   AN 
AMERICAN  MEDICAL  MISSIONARY  IN  ASIATIC 

TURKEY. 

BY   DAVID    H.    NUTTING,    M.D. 

FAR  away  in  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  midway  between 
the  barbarism  of  Asia,  and  the  civilization  of  Europe, 
there  is  a  land,  called  by  its  inhabitants  the  "Osmanli 
Toprak."  It  is  a  land  of  surpassing  interest  to  Biblical  schol- 
ars, because  within  its  boundaries  was  the  Garden  of  Eden, 
the  cradle  of  the  human  race;  Mount  Ararat,  upon  which  the 
Ark  rested  after  the  flood;  the  great  cities  of  Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  Damascus  and  Antioch,  Palmyra,  Baalbek  and 
Jerusalem;  because  it  was  the  birth-place  of  the  patriarchs, 
prophets,  apostles,  and,  above  all,  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
and  the  land  in  which  He  "went  about  doing  good,"  and 
manifesting  unto  the  world,  by  His  life  and  death,  the  char- 
acter and  disposition  of  the  Father. 

It  is  a  land  of  great  interest  to  the  student  of  history,  be- 
cause subdued  and  governed  for  centuries  by  some  of  the 
most  famous  of  Grecian  monarchs  and  Roman  emperors; 
afterwards  conquered  by  the  sword  of  Mahomet,  retaken,  in 
part,  by  the  Crusaders,  but  falling  at  last  into  the  hands  of 
the  victorious  Saracens. 

It  is  a  land,  also,  of  wonderful  interest  to  the  reader 
of  romance.  Who,  that  has  read  the  "Arabian  Nights' 
Entertainments"  in  his  youth,  does  not  seize  with  avidity 
such  books  as  "The  Land  of  the  Saracens,"  by  Bayard 
Taylor,  "The  Howaji  in  Syria,"  by  George  W.  Curtis, 
"Three  Years  in  the  East,"  by  Robinson,  or  "The  Tent  and 
the  Harem,"  by  Mrs,  Paine? 

It  is  a  land  of  great  interest  to  all  Europe,  in  a  political 
point  of  view;  for  "the  Eastern  question,"  like  the  ever 
varying  though  beautiful  colors,  and  symmetrical  forms,  of 
the  kaleidoscope,  has  been  continually  coming  up  in  some 
new  phase,  in  the  diplomatic  circles  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
continent. 

It  is  a  land  of  still  greater  interest  to  the  Christian  philan- 
thropist, wi^,  as  he  looks  upon  its  thirty-six  millions  of 
inhabitants,  composed  of  eleven  different  races,  desires  to 
learn  more  of  their  condition,  that  he  may  devise  means  for 
their  farther  civilizatibn  and  enlightenment. 

[57] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

Moreover  it  is  a  land  concerning  which  most  Americans 
know  but  little.  Usually  American  travellers  in  the  East  do 
no  more  than  to  visit  some  of  the  seaport  towns.  Some  few 
have  made  the  tour  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  going  far  enough 
inland  to  visit  Jerusalem,  Damascus,  and  Cairo,  Even  that 
indefatigable  traveller,  Bayard  Taylor,  having  started  for 
Nineveh,  proceeded  only  to  Aleppo,  about  a  hundred  miles 
from  the  seashore,  and  thence,  I  know  not  why,  began  to 
retrace  his  steps.  During  my  sojourn  of  twenty  years  in  the 
interior  of  Asiatic  Turkey,  I  saw  only  seven  American  travel- 
lers, and  only  one  of  these  (Mr.  Myers,  author  of  "Re- 
mains of  Lost  Empires")  has  published  any  account  of  his 
observations. 

May  I  not,  then,  indulge  the  hope  that  the  simple  state- 
ment of  a  few  facts,  which  have  come  to  my  notice,  while 
employed  as  a  missionary  physician,  residing  chiefly  in 
ancient  Assyria,  but  travelling  extensively  in  Mesopotamia, 
Armenia,  and  Koordistan,  may  not  be  entirely  without 
interest  to  such  an  audience  as  that  before  me? 

I  arrived  in  Turkey  in  September,  1854,  but  did  not  reach 
Diarbekir,  the  city  to  which  I  had  been  designated,  until 
November.  It  is  a  large  city,  containing  some  60,000  in- 
habitants, and  is  surrounded  by  a  wall,  high  and  massive, 
built  of  hewn  stone  some  1500  years  ago  by  the  Roman 
Emperor,  Constantius.  It  is  located  on  the  river  Tigris,  in 
ancient  Assyria,  some  250  miles  above  Nineveh.  It  is  now 
the  capital  of  the  Pashaluc  of  Koordistan.  Pashas  of  eyalets^ 
or  provinces,  are  appointed  by  the  Sultan,  receive  a  salary  of 
50,000  piasters  or  $2000  per  month,  and,  with  their  numerous 
assistants,  attendants,  servants,  and  fine  horses,  make  a 
great  display. 

Only  about  two  weeks  after  my  arrival,  I  was  called  to  the 
palace  to  visit  the  Governor  General  of  the  Province,  Hamdi 
Pasha,  who  was  dangerously  ill.  Having  acquired  little 
knowledge  of  the  language  and  customs  of  the  country,  you 
can  imagine  with  what  trepidation  I  prepared  to  make  my 
first  visit  to  his  excellency. 

Without  delay,  I  mounted  my  horse,  and,  attended  by  my 
interpreter,  I  accompanied  the  pasha's  private  secretary,  and 
treasurer,  who  came  to  call  me,  mounted  upon  very  gay 
Arab  horses,  through  the  narrow  streets  to  the  citadel. 

[58] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

Passing  through  the  high,  arched  gate-way  in  the  wall  of 
solid  masonry  which  separates  the  citadel  and  palace  from 
the  city,  the  guard  of  soldiers  stationed  there  gave  a  salute, 
and  we  found  ourselves  in  an  enclosure  of  several  acres, 
having  a  fortified  mound  on  the  left,  and  the  palace,  with  its 
three  courts,  on  the  right.  Passing  by  several  shops,  occupied 
chiefly  by  scribes,  and  a  mosque,  we  came  to  the  gate  of  the 
outer  court  of  the  palace.  As  we  rode  through  we  were  again 
saluted  by  the  guard,  and  a  pleasant  court-yard  opened 
before  us,  about  300  feet  square.  Near  the  entrance  were  the 
offices  of  the  Pasha's  assistants  (the  Kaiher  Bey,  the  Divan 
Efi"endi,  the  Seraf,  and  the  Cavass-bashu,  or  chief  of  police). 
On  the  left  side  of  the  court  were  the  stables  for  the  Pasha's 
horses,  and  the  prison;  on  the  right,  rooms  for  his  servants, 
and  the  kitchen.  While  in  front,  opposite  the  entrance,  were 
the  rooms  where  the  Pasha  was  accustomed  to  receive  calls, 
and  attend  to  business;  and  also  a  hamam  or  bath. 

Crossing  the  court,  we  rode  under  the  old,  wide-spreading 
sycamore  tree,  standing  near  a  large  fountain,  where  we  were 
met  by  servants  who  held  our  horses,  while  we  dismounting 
were  conducted  through  the  spacious  hall  of  the  palace,  on 
either  side  of  which  stood  a  row  of  servants  and  attendants, 
who  very  respectfully  saluted  us  with  the  Turkish  Umana^ 
which  corresponds  to  our  bow. 

We  entered  the  ante-room,  exchanged  our  boots  for  slip- 
pers, and  then  the  heavy  curtain  suspended  over  the  door- 
way was  drawn  aside,  and  we  entered  the  Pasha's  divan- 
hani,  or  reception  room.  It  was  a  large,  lofty  room,  oblong 
in  form,  projecting  from  the  main  building  into  the  court, 
and  having  windows  on  three  sides.  The  walls  and  ceiling 
were  painted  in  arabesque.  The  furniture  of  the  room  con- 
sisted of  a  divan,  or  wide  sofa,  extending  across  the  end  of  the 
room  opposite  the  entrance,  and  nearly  down  on  either  side, 
with  large  cushions  or  pillows  leaning  against  the  wall  and 
rising  to  the  sills  of  the  windows.  The  seat  and  the  cushions 
were  covered  with  red  broadcloth,  and  the  windows  cur- 
tained with  red  damask.  I  have  been  thus  particular  in 
describing  this  room,  because  its  form  and  arrangement  is 
the  one  most  commonly  seen  in  the  best  houses  of  Turkey. 

As  we  entered  we  saw  at  the  farther  end  of  the  room,  in 
the  seat  of  honor,  which  is  the  right-hand  corner,  the  Pasha's 

[59] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

Kaiher  Bey,  or  vice-gerent.  The  divan  effendi  introduced  us 
to  him,  he  arose,  we  approached,  and  made  a  low  bow,  which 
he  returned,  and  directed  us  to  be  seated  on  his  right,  at  a 
little  distance.  Having  seated  ourselves  upon  the  divan,  the 
Kaiher  Bey  saluted  us  each  in  turn,  according  to  custom, 
and  we  returned  the  salaam.  He  then  ordered  coffee  to  be 
brought;  and,  after  conversing  pleasantly  a  few  moments, 
during  which  time  word  had  been  sent  into  the  harem,  where 
the  Pasha  was,  that  the  American  Doctor  had  come  and 
would  visit  his  excellency,  he  conducted  us  to  the  door  of  the 
inner  court,  upon  which  he  knocked.  Soon  a  black  eunuch 
came,  and,  without  opening  the  door,  inquired  who  was 
there.  Upon  learning,  he  turned  and  called  out  to  the  in- 
mates Kimse  olmasun — "Let  there  be  no  one  exposed  to 
view,"  and  soon  having  opened  the  door,  we  entered.  This 
court  was  somewhat  smaller  than  the  other,  having  a  garden 
full  of  fruit  trees  and  flowers  on  the  left,  and  the  apartments 
of  the  harem  on  the  right,  built  of  alternate  layers  of  light 
and  dark  colored  stone,  lime  and  basaltic  in  Saracenic  style, 
two  stories  in  height.  Passing  a  fountain  issuing  from  the 
mouth  of  a  marble  lion,  and  falling  into  a  large,  square  tank 
of  hewn  stone,  we  ascended  the  stairway,  passed  through 
the  large  livan,  or  veranda,  and  were  conducted  into  the  room 
where  the  Pasha  was.  It  was  a  pleasant  room,  having  win- 
dows looking  out  upon  the  Tigris,  and  the  beautiful  gardens 
in  the  valley  through  which  it  flows.  The  Pasha  was  lying 
upon  a  double  mattress  spread  upon  the  Persian  carpet, 
with  pillows  and  comforter  covered  with  Damascus  silk. 
I  was  invited  to  sit  near  him  upon  the  carpet.  I  had  pre- 
viously learned  that  the  native  doctors  had  all  declared  his 
case  hopeless.  He  had  been  attended  for  several  days  by  an 
Armenian  doctor.  Hakim  Stipan,  who  evidently  had  mistaken 
the  nature  of  his  disease.  I  found  him  in  an  insensible  and 
very  dangerous  condition,  but  told  his  friends,  and  attend- 
ants, that  I  hoped  he  would  recover,  if  they  faithfully  gave 
him  the  medicines  I  prescribed,  and  followed  all  my  direc- 
tions. Upon  my  second  visit  I  found  that  the  attendants 
had  continued  to  give  the  medicine  prescribed  by  the  Ar- 
menian doctor.  I  told  them  that  this  would  not  do.  A  Der- 
vish, also,  had  been  called  in,  and,  according  to  the  custom  of 
this  religious  order  of  physicians,  he  had  written  two  sen- 

[60] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

tences  selected  from  the  Koran,  placed  them  in  a  bowl  of 
water,  from  which  the  Pasha  was  to  drink  from  time  to 
time.  Of  course,  I  did  not  object  to  this,  as  I  had  no  appre- 
hension that  the  homeopathic  doses  of  the  sulphate  of  iron, 
nut-galls,  and  gum  arable,  contained  in  the  ink,  would  prove 
deleterious.  For  several  days  I  continued  to  make  my  visits 
morning  and  evening,  without  seeing  any  good  results  from 
my  prescriptions.  It  at  last  occurred  to  me  that,  perhaps, 
the  Pasha,  not  having  the  use  of  his  reason,  did  not  really 
swallow  my  medicines.  Upon  strict  inquiry  of  his  son  and 
attendants,  I  learned  that  he  seemed  disinclined  to  take  the 
medicine,  and  they  dared  not  use  any  force.  I  told  them  I 
had  no  hope  of  his  recovery,  unless  he  was  compelled  to  take 
the  medicine.  They  replied  —  '"'Biz  na  yapalum  —  what  can 
we  do.'*  We  put  the  medicine  into  his  mouth,  but  he,  dis- 
liking its  taste,  spits  it  out."  I  replied  —  "I  will  show  you;" 
and,  taking  a  dose  in  a  spoon,  I  seized  his  highness  by  the 
nose,  turned  the  contents  of  the  spoon  into  his  mouth,  and, 
before  they  could  fairly  utter  their  remonstrances,  the  medi- 
cine had  gone  down,  while  I  quietly  remarked,  "When  the 
Pasha  recovers,  he  will  thank  me  for  this." 

The  next  day  he  was  decidedly  better,  and,  continuing  to 
improve,  soon  recovered  his  reason.  When  his  son,  and 
attendants,  told  him  how  they  had  despaired  of  his  life,  and 
that  they  believed  I  had  been  the  means  of  his  recovery,  he 
seemed  exceedingly  grateful  to  me,  and  at  once  ordered  a  very- 
fine  cream-colored  horse  to  be  sent  to  me,  as  a  token  of  his 
gratitude.  Two  or  three  weeks  later,  when  he  had  fully  re- 
covered, he  sent  me  a  bag,  containing  2000  piastres  in  silver 
(^80) ;  and,  as  long  as  he  remained  the  Pasha  Fali  of  Diar- 
bekir,  he  continued  to  show  his  thankfulness,  and  apprecia- 
tion of  my  services. 

One  sunny  day  in  April  following,  he  had  a  tent  pitched  on 
the  bluff  overlooking  the  river  and  gardens,  just  without  the 
city  walls,  and  went  out  with  his  numerous  attendants  to 
spend  the  day,  enjoying  the  beautiful  scenery  and  delight- 
fully fresh  and  exhilarating  air  of  spring.  Returning  from  a 
village  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  where  I  had  been  to 
visit  some  patients,  I  chanced  to  pass  not  far  from  the  Pasha's 
tent.  As  soon  as  he  saw  me  he  sent  a  cavass  and  invited  me 
to  come  and  make  him  a  call.  I  did  so,  but  as  I  had  no  in- 

[61] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 


terpreter  with  me,  I  could  only  converse  a  little  in  broken 
Turkish.  He  seemed  very  glad  to  see  me,  and  after  sherbets 
and  coffee  had  been  served,  according  to  custom,  he  prepared 
to  return  to  the  Palace.  A  beautiful  horse,  gayly  caparisoned, 
had  been  brought  for  the  Pasha  to  ride;  but  instead  of 
mounting  him,  he  told  the  grooms  to  lead  the  horse,  while  he 
took  my  arm,  as  much  to  my  astonishment  as  to  that  of  the 
crowd  assembled,  and  walked  arm  in  arm  with  me  to  the 
palace  court,  the  people  on  either  hand  making  profoundly 
respectful  salaams,  as  we  passed  along.  It  was  a  singular, 
if  not  ludicrous  sight.  The  Pasha,  an  extremely  corpulent 
man,  clad  with  a  robe  of  scarlet,  lined  with  ermine  —  and  I, 
a  spare  man,  dressed  in  the  closely-fitting,  plain,  black 
clothes  of  Frankistanl 

Soon  after  my  arrival  in  Diarbekir,  I  opened  a  dispensary, 
and  prescribed  for  all  who  came  gratuitously.  It  was  soon 
crowded,  often  as  many  as  one  hundred  coming  in  one  day. 
It  was  my  custom  to  examine  each  separately,  and  give  a 
written  prescription;  and  I  found  it  necessary  to  tell  each 
newcomer  that  the  paper  was  not  to  be  swallowed,  but  to 
be  given  to  my  assistant,  who  would  give  the  medicine 
which  I  had  written  upon  it.  I  soon  found  that  my  patients 
required  extraordinary  qualifications  on  the  part  of  the 
physician.  After  I  had  felt  the  pulse  in  one  wrist,  they  would 
invariably  present  the  other,  believing  it  necessary  that  the 
doctor  feel  the  pulse  in  both.  Then  they  expected  that  I 
would  immediately  be  able  to  tell  them  everything  in  regard 
to  their  state  —  not  merely  the  nature  of  the  disease,  but 
also  whether  they  slept  well,  what  they  had  eaten  the  day 
previous,  whether  they  had  good  digestion,  and  when  they 
would  recover.  Nothing  so  enhances,  in  their  eyes,  the  value 
of  a  doctor  as  his  being  able  to  tell  everything  after  feeling 
the  pulse,  without  asking  any  questions. 

Many  of  the  native  physicians  bribe  the  servants  of  their 
patients  to  give  them,  privately,  information  concerning 
their  diet,  evacuations,  and  habits;  and  then  they  after- 
wards impose  on  them  by  making  them  believe  that  their 
sole  source  of  information  was  the  state  of  the  pulse. 

Frequently  patients  would  hold  out  their  hands  for  me  to 
feel  the  pulse,  and,  when  not  perceiving  any  indications  of 
general  disorder,  I  would  ask  "What  is  your  trouble,  or 

[62] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

/ 

for  what  did  you  come?"  —  the  answer  would  be  —  "My 
sight  is  failing  in  one  eye,"  or  "I  am  deaf,"  or  "I  have  a 
tumor  which  I  wish  you  to  extirpate,"  or  "I  was  sick  last 
year,  and  I  wish  you  to  give  me  some  medicine  to  prevent 
my  being  sick  this  season." 

When  I  had  made  a  prescription,  the  patient  would  almost 
invariably  ask  —  "What  will  the  effect  of  the  medicine  be?" 
Unless  a  medicine  produce  some  visible  eifect,  such  as  vomit- 
ing, or  purging,  it  is  regarded  as  inert  and  useless.  Among 
the  native  physicians  tartar  emetic,  and  epsom  salts,  are 
held  in  great  repute,  and  are  used  in  almost  every  case  of 
disease. 

Often  persons  would  come  to  me,  thinking  that  they  fully 
understood  the  nature  of  their  own  maladies,  and  request 
me  to  give  them  a  dose  of  some  cathartic,  emetic,  dia- 
phoretic, or  diuretic  medicine;  but  of  course  I  would  not 
comply  with  the  request,  unless,  after  due  examination,  I 
concluded  it  might  be  useful. 

The  people  have  almost  no  knowledge  of  anatomy,  phy- 
siology, or  hygiene.  Often  when  I  inquired  of  a  patient 
what  his  trouble  was,  he  would  reply  —  "My  heart  turns 
round,"  by  which  he  meant  that  he  had  nausea.  Again  from 
another  patient  I  would  receive  this  reply  —  "My  heart 
aches."  But  when  asked  to  point  to  the  seat  of  his  pain,  he 
would  place  his  hand  upon  his  stomach.  Another  would  say 
—  "I  have  been  frightened  —  and  I  wish  you  to  give  me 
medicine  to  counteract  the  evil  consequences."  When  I 
asked  another  what  his  trouble  was,  he  would  reply,  "Wind," 
by  which  he  meant  rheumatism.  The  common  belief  is  that 
most  diseases  are  caused  by  an  excess  or  deficiency  of  wind 
in  the  various  organs,  and  cavities  of  the  body;  thus,  head- 
ache is  caused  by  wind  in  the  head,  dyspepsia  by  wind  in 
the  chest,  and  dropsy  by  wind  in  the  abdomen.  When, 
examining  a  dropsical  patient,  I  have  told  the  friends  and 
lookers-on  that  the  swelling  was  caused  by  an  accumulation 
of  water,  they  have  been  very  incredulous,  until  I  intro- 
duced a  trochar,  and  then  when  they  saw  quart  after  quart 
of  water  running  away,  they  have  been  astonished  above 
measure.  I  once  went  to  an  Armenian  village  and  per- 
formed a  surgical  operation,  and  the  poor  people  concluded 
I  must  be  a  saint,  and  would  have  worshipped  me  if  I  had 
allowed  it.  [  ^3  1 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

Mohammedans  regard  Lochman,  an  Arabian,  who  lived 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  as  Prince  of  Physicians  in  Tur- 
key, and  relate  in  glowing  colors  numerous  wonderful  cures 
performed  by  him.  Hoffman's  Anodyne  is  called  by  them 
"Lochman  roohoo." 

But  there  were  physicians  of  much  note  in  Turkey  long 
before.  In  640  the  Saracens  captured  Alexandria  and  intro- 
duced from  thence  some  knowledge  of  European  science, 
translating  Greek  authors.  Near  the  end  of  the  eighth  century 
a  medical  college  was  founded  in  Bagdad,  and  was  fostered 
by  the  famed  Caliph  Haroun  al  Raschid. 

One  of  the  principal  means  used  by  the  inhabitants  gen- 
erally, for  the  prevention  as  well  as  the  cure  of  disease  is  the 
Turkish  Bath,  or  Hamam.  Especially  in  some  chronic  dis- 
eases of  the  skin,  in  rheumatism,  in  jaundice,  and  in  dropsy, 
the  bath  is  considered  to  have  great  remedial  value.  All 
classes  of  people  make  it  a  rule  to  go  to  the  bath  once  a  week. 
Some  of  the  rich  Turks  have  private  baths  in  connection 
with  their  houses.  But  the  majority  of  the  people  have  no 
conveniences  for  bathing  at  home,  and  therefore  these  public 
baths  are  considered  a  great  blessing.  The  expense  of  taking 
a  bath  varies  from  five  to  twenty-five  cents,  according  to 
the  amount  of  attention  required,  so  that  it  is  in  the  power 
of  the  poorest  of  the  people  to  make  use  of  it. 

In  the  city  of  Diarbekir  there  are  about  a  dozen  very 
capacious  baths,  built  of  hewn  stone.  The  main  part  of 
the  building  is  octagonal  in  shape,  and  surmounted  by  a 
large  dome.  Each  bath  is  attended,  and  used,  by  males  in 
the  forenoon,  and  by  females  in  the  afternoon.  On  Fridays 
they  are  all  reserved  for  the  exclusive  use  of  Moslems. 
From  my  own  experience,  I  can  testify  that,  under  certain 
circumstances,  the  Turkish  bath  is  a  great  luxury;  especially 
upon  the  completion  of  a  long  journey  by  caravan  or  post. 

I  had  heard  much  of  Turkish  Baths,  and  soon  after  my 
arrival  in  Diarbekir,  I  found  an  opportunity  to  visit  the 
largest  bath  in  the  city,  called  the  ''Devi  Hamam^'*  or  camel 
bath,  in  company  with  a  few  friends. 

We  were  first  ushered  into  the  large,  square,  ante-room, 
in  the  center  of  which  a  fountain  was  playing,  and  around 
which  sat  several  Turks,  smoking  their  chibooks,  and  sipping 
their  coffee.  As  we  entered  we  were  met  by  the  hamamjee, 

[64] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

or  bath-men,  half  naked,  who  conducted  us  to  divans,  or 
couches,  built  up  of  stone,  about  three  feet  high,  in  alcoves, 
on  the  sides  of  the  room,  upon  which  mattresses  were 
spread.  Here,  having  undressed,  we  tied  a  silken  towel  or 
wrapper  around  our  loins,  and,  on  wooden  sandals,  called 
cobcobs,  provided  for  the  purpose,  we  proceeded  to  the  main 
room,  which  was  octagonal  in  shape,  about  seventy-five 
feet  in  diameter,  paved  with  marble,  and  dimly  lighted  by 
small  windows  of  colored  glass  in  the  dome. 

The  sensation  which  we  experienced  when  we  first  entered 
was  oppressive  in  the  extreme.  It  was  heated  to  a  tempera- 
ture of  over  one  hundred  degrees,  and  filled  with  an  atmos- 
phere of  steam.  It  seemed  as  if  I  was  deprived  of  the  power 
of  breathing  and  I  was  almost  inclined  to  retreat.  We  were 
conducted  to  alcoves,  or  recesses,  in  each  of  which  was  a 
marble  basin,  into  which  hot  or  cold  water  could  be  intro- 
duced at  pleasure;  and  here  we  were  to  sit  or  recline  on  the 
heated  flag-stones  for  half  an  hour  or  more. 

Soon  we  were  relieved  of  unpleasant  sensations  by  a  very 
copious  perspiration;  and  we  amused  ourselves  by  looking  at 
the  ghost-like  figures  of  some  Turks,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  spacious  apartment,  undergoing  the  various  operations 
of  rubbing,  scrubbing,  lathering,  shampooing,  and  shaving. 

After  a  while  our  turn  came.  The  operator  commenced 
by  scrubbing  the  whole  surface  of  the  body  with  a  kind  of 
mitten  on  his  right  hand  made  of  goat's  hair.  The  delicate 
skin,  not  used  to  such  a  process,  peeled  ofl"  in  rolls.  We  were 
then  taken  to  the  other  side  of  the  room,  which  was  still 
hotter,  and,  having  taken  seats  by  one  of  the  marble  basins 
in  which  the  hamamjee,  with  sweet-scented  soap,  formed  a 
lather,  we  were  soon  covered  therewith  from  head  to  foot. 
This  was  rapidly  followed  by  copious  ablutions  of  hot  and 
then  cool  water,  which  left  a  delicious  feeling  of  cleanliness. 

Then  the  operator  brought  large,  clean,  Turkish  towels, 
wrapped  one  around  the  head  like  a  turban,  another  around 
the  waist,  and  threw  the  third  over  the  shoulders,  and  we 
were  conducted  to  the  ante-room,  where  we  laid  ourselves 
down  upon  the  mattresses,  were  covered  with  thick  com- 
forters, and  remained  half  an  hour  to  cool  off"  gradually. 
In  the  meantime  coffee  and  sherbets,  chibooks  and  nargellas 
were  served  to    those    who   wished.  Having    dressed,    the 

[65] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

hamamjee  received  his  fee,  and  the  attendants  their  presents, 
and  we  took  our  departure,  feeling  decidedly  refreshed,  and 
having  in  an  unusual  degree  the  ruddy  hue  of  health  upon 
our  countenances. 

When  I  went  to  Diarbekir,  I  found  there  about  a  dozen 
physicians,  all,  but  one,  natives  of  the  region,  and  that  one 
was  a  Greek,  named  Demosthenes,  from  one  of  the  Ionian 
islands.  His  only  qualification  for  the  profession  was  ac- 
quired by  an  apprenticeship  in  an  apothecary's  shop  in 
Stamboul.  He  had  a  tolerable  knowledge  of  medicines,  and 
that  was  all.  His  practice  was  perfectly  empirical.  He  had  an 
exhaustless  amount  of  brass  and  self-conceit.  He  was  an 
adept  in  the  art  of  "humbugging"  the  people.  Knowing 
that  fear  was  generally  regarded  as  an  immediate  cause  of 
disease,  he  filled  a  large  number  of  small  bottles  with  some 
colored  fluid,  and  labeled  them  — "  Korkoo  ilarge,"  or 
medicine  for  fear  —  and  for  a  short  time  sold  large  quanti- 
ties of  them  in  that  and  neighboring  cities. 

Of  the  native  doctors,  the  most  popular  was  Hakim  Stipan, 
which  being  translated  is  Dr.  Stephen.  He  was  an  Armenian, 
whose  knowledge  of  medicine  had  been  acquired  while  ser- 
vant of  a  Frank  doctor  for  about  one  year,  and  from  a  book 
in  his  language,  on  diseases  and  remedies,  published  by  an 
Armenian  physician  in  Constantinople,  some  fifty  years 
ago.  The  next  in  rank  was  another  Armenian  called  "Khar- 
pootly  Hakim,"  or  the  Dr.  from  Kharpoot.  He  was  a  large, 
pompous  man,  walked  with  a  cane  according  to  Frank  cus- 
tom, and  looked  very  wise.  While  in  Kharpoot,  his  native 
city,  I  learned  that  he  was  formerly  a  tinman;  but  becoming 
possessed  of  a  copy  of  the  book  before  alluded  to,  he  deter- 
mined to  become  doctor  and  so  he  came  to  Diarbekir  and 
commenced  to  practise.  The  third  was  called  "The  Blind 
Doctor's  disciple."  While  leading  the  blind  doctor,  his  mas- 
ter, about  on  his  visits  to  the  sick,  he  was  supposed  to  have 
acquired  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  medicine.  The  fourth  was 
"Tartar  Ogloo,"  or  the  son  of  a  Tartar.  His  opportunities 
for  acquiring  a  medical  education  were  not,  I  judge,  superior 
to  those  of  the  others.  Some  sixteen  years  ago,  the  govern- 
ment appointed  a  commission  of  doctors,  who  had  been  edu- 
cated in  the  Sultan's  Medical  School  (which  is  designed  only 
to  qualify  physicians  and  surgeons  for  the  army)   to  go 

[66] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

through  the  land,  from  city  to  city,  examine  the  practi- 
tioners, and  give  a  license  to  practice  to  such  as  might  be 
found  qualified.  They  came  to  Diarbekir,  and  while  exam- 
ing  this  "Tartar  Ogloo,"  they  inquired  where  the  heart  was 
located,  and  he  pointed  to  his  stomach.  They  inquired  why 
the  blood  in  some  of  the  blood-vessels  was  of  a  light  and  in 
others  of  a  dark  red  color.  He  replied  —  "The  light  comes 
from  the  heart,  the  dark  from  the  liver."  The  fifth  was  Dr. 
Ginger  Ogloo.  He  qualified  himself  for  practice  in  a  shop 
called  an  "Atar  tuken,"  in  which  spices,  native  drugs,  and 
medicines  are  sold.  I  was  once  called  to  see  Hadji  Mehemet 
Nain  Eff"endi,  one  of  the  richest  Moslems  in  the  city,  and 
a  member  of  the  Pasha's  megilis,  or  council,  and  found  that 
this  Hakim  Ginger  Ogloo  had  been  prescribing  for  him.  I 
found  he  had  acute  inflammation  of  the  stomach,  caused, 
no  doubt,  by  his  excessive  use  of  raki,  a  spirit  made  from 
raisins,  about  equal  to  whiskey  in  strength.  How  had  this 
doctor  treated  this  case.^  Why,  knowing  that  oil  of  pepper- 
mint, ginger,  cinnamon,  and  such  like  medicines,  were  good 
for  pain  in  the  stomach,  he  prescribed  them,  and  day  by  day 
the  patient  was  becoming  worse.  To  his  great  surprise,  I 
ordered  him  to  take  ice,  in  small  pieces  ad  libitum,  to  abstain 
entirely  from  raki,  and  to  use  only  those  articles  of  food 
which  I  directed.  He  recovered.  Dr.  Ginger  Ogloo,  perceiv- 
ing that  ice  worked  a  wonderful  cure  in  this  case,  thought  he 
would  prescribe  it  for  a  patient  of  his  who  had  pneumonia, 
and  the  patient  died. 

Time  would  fail  me  if  I  should  proceed  to  describe  the 
other  doctors  of  Diarbekir.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  they  were 
all  worse  than  these  I  have  mentioned.  After  I  had  been 
there  four  years.  Dr.  Bonelli,  an  Italian  from  Sicily,  came 
to  Diarbekir,  as  army  physician  and  surgeon.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  Vienna,  and  was  a  man  of  considerable  talent, 
though  of  little  moral  worth.  His  practice  was  chiefly  con- 
fined to  the  two  regiments  of  the  Turkish  army  stationed 
there.  He  has  since  become  a  bigoted  Moslem  and  had  his 
boys  circumcised. 

I  have  visited  some  seventeen  other  cities  in  Turkey, 
stopping  in  two  of  them  a  year,  and  in  six  others  from  one  to 
six  months  each,  and  I  am  convinced  that  the  practitioners 
of  medicine  in  Diarbekir  are  a  fair  sample  of  the  doctors 

[67] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 


in  all  parts  of  the  empire,  except  Constantinople,  and  per- 
haps Smyrna,  Aleppo,  and  Beyroot.  The  practice  of  sur- 
gery and  dentistry  is  confined  to  the  barbers,  who  are,  as  you 
might  suppose,  equally  ignorant. 

It  seems  a  great  pity  that  the  state  of  hygiene  and  medical 
science  and  practice  should  be  so  low  in  a  country  where 
the  inhabitants  esteem  the  medical  art  so  highly,  and  rank  a 
skilful  physician  almost  as  a  saint.  The  total  ignorance  and 
incompetence  of  the  native  practitioners  have  not  altogether 
escaped  the  observation  of  their  countrymen;  for  it  is  very 
noticeable  that  a  foreign  physician,  especially  if  English  or 
American,  is  supposed,  by  the  Turks  in  general,  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  far  superior  knowledge,  and  consequently  is  greatly 
sought  after.  He  is  at  once  called  ^^  Hakim  Bashu,^^  chief 
doctor;  and  the  appelation  '' Hakim^^  is  a  passport  in  any  part 
of  the  country,  as  I  can  testify  from  my  own  experience  in 
travelling  more  than  25,000  miles,  on  horseback,  in  the 
interior. 

I  have  uniformly  been  treated  with  great  respect  and  con- 
sideration by  all  classes  of  the  people,  who  looked  upon  me 
as  a  public  benefactor.  During  my  residence  of  twenty  years, 
I  suppose  I  prescribed  for  more  than  100,000  patients,  of 
different  races  and  sects,  as  Turks,  Arabs,  Koords,  Kuzzul 
bash,  Turkomans,  Yezidees,  Circassians,  Armenians,  Syr- 
ians, Chaldeans,  and  Greeks;  and  of  all  ranks  from  the  poor 
villager,  to  the  serasker,  or  commander  in  chief  of  the  Sul- 
tan's army. 

The  present  commander  of  the  Turkish  army  at  Erzroom, 
in  Eastern  Turkey  (ancient  Armenia),  Ishmael  Koord  Pasha, 
was  once  under  my  care  as  a  patient,  and  upon  his  recovery 
gave  me  an  Arab  mare. 

It  is  true  that  in  my  travels,  I  have  been  three  times  at- 
tacked by  robbers,  but,  in  each  case,  through  the  kind  care 
of  Providence,  I  have  been  preserved  from  all  harm. 

One  day,  in  the  summer  of  1856,  which  I  spent  in  the  town 
of  Hinee,  at  the  foot  of  the  Taurus  Mountains  some  fifty 
miles  north  of  Diarbekir,  in  company  with  Dr.  H.  and  Mr. 
W.,  who  were  making  us  a  visit  of  two  or  three  days,  I  rode 
to  the  village  of  Nerib,  about  twelve  miles  distant  to  per- 
form the  operation  of  tapping  for  dropsy.  It  was  a  village 
occupied  by  outlaws,   and  rebels   against  government.  It 

[68] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

was  situated  in  a  little  valley  up  among  the  mountains.  Hav- 
ing successfully  completed  the  operation  (of  tapping  for 
dropsy)  with  an  instrument  extemporized  for  the  occasion 
(my  surgical  case  being  in  D.)  the  patient,  as  well  as  his 
friends  and  neighbors,  expressed  great  astonishment  and 
gratitude.  They  insisted  upon  our  eating  some  freshly  baked 
bread,  with  a  few  clusters  of  delicious  grapes,  just  from  their 
vineyards. 

On  our  return  to  Hinee,  as  we  were  assured  there  was 
nothing  to  be  feared  in  the  way,  we  took  no  guard.  Having 
proceeded  about  half  way,  we  came  to  a  narrow  pass  in  the 
range  of  hills  which  separates  the  plain  of  Nerib  from  the 
plain  of  Hinee.  Here  we  passed  two  footmen,  armed  with 
guns  and  swords,  who  said  they  were  going  to  Nerib.  But 
soon  after  we  met  them,  we  looked  back  and  saw  that  they 
had  turned  and  were  running  after  us.  We  hurried  on  as  fast 
as  the  stony  path  would  permit  us  to  do  safely,  and  these 
men  still  ran  after  us,  more  than  a  mile,  though  they  did  not 
gain  upon  us.  Just  then,  Dr.  H.  and  Mr.  W.,  who  were  sev- 
eral rods  before  me,  in  turning  round  the  point  of  a  little 
hill,  suddenly  discovered  several  more  armed  men  a  few  rods 
before  them;  and,  not  liking  their  appearance,  and  suspect- 
ing they  might  be  confederates  of  our  pursuers,  they  turned 
out  of  the  path  through  the  fields  to  escape  them.  As  I  did 
not  see  them  in  time,  I  thought  it  best  to  go  right  on  by  them, 
without  giving  them  reason  to  think  I  feared  they  were  in- 
tending to  harm  me,  knowing  that  Koordish  robbers  often 
refrain  from  attacking  those  who  manifest  no  fear  of  them, 
especially  if  Franks.  So  I  did;  but,  as  I  came  within  eight 
rods  of  them,  I  heard  those  behind  crying  out  to  them  in 
Koordish;  and  just  after  one  of  the  men  put  his  hand  upon 
the  handle  of  his  sword,  and  at  the  instant  I  was  passing  him 
he  drew  it  and  struck  at  me.  As  I  saw  him  draw  his  sword,  I 
suddenly  spurred  my  horse,  and  he  leaped  from  him  in  such 
a  way  that  the  point  of  the  sword  just  passed  by  my  arm. 
As  my  horse  galloped  off,  I  looked  back  and  saw  them  hold- 
ing their  guns  as  if  undecided  whether  to  fire  at  me  or  not. 
I  hurried  on  thanking  God  for  the  preservation  of  my  life 
in  so  imminent  danger,  and  reached  home  before  the  others, 
who  had  been  in  the  greatest  anxiety  concerning  me.  A  few 
days  after  we  were  informed  that  when  these  men  returned 

[69] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

to  their  village  (Nerib)  and  told  their  neighbors  how  they 
met  three  Franks,  and  attempted  to  rob  them,  the  villagers 
were  greatly  enraged,  and  said  —  "Let  your  houses  be  pulled 
down,  O  wicked  men!  The  doctor  kindly  came  over  to  our 
village,  and  gratuitously  performed  the  operation  upon  our 
poor  neighbor,  and  shall  he  be  treated  thus  by  you!"  And, 
rushing  to  the  houses  of  those  men,  they  left  not  one  stone 
upon  another,  and  drove  them  from  their  village  in  disgrace. 

My  professional  avocations  brought  me  often  in  contact 
with  the  women  of  Turkey,  both  among  Mohammedans  and 
nominal  Christians.  The  latter  I  have  generally  found  to  be 
superior  in  general  intelligence,  conversation,  and  demeanor, 
to  the  former;  and  this  I  attribute  to  the  fact  that  the  Bible 
has  had  some^  though  but  little,  influence  over  them;  while 
the  former  have  been  under  the  influence  of  the  Koran,  and 
been  kept  secluded  generally  in  the  harem.  Although  I 
have  visited  more  than  a  thousand  Turkish  harems  (for  In 
sickness  they  will  admit  the  doctor),  I  have  found  it  very 
difficult,  owing  to  their  customs,  to  form  any  very  satis- 
factory estimate  of  the  condition  and  character  of  the  in- 
mates. However  I  have  acquired  general  impressions  which 
are  probably  to  some  extent  just. 

In  the  spring  of  1862  (I  think)  Namlk  Pasha,  and  retinue, 
arrived  in  Diarbekir  on  his  way  to  Constantinople  from 
Bagdad,  where  he  had  been  ruling  for  about  two  years.  He 
was  a  special  favorite  of  the  Sultan,  and  in  consequence  the 
government  of  the  pashaluc  of  Bagdad,  the  largest  and  most 
important  province  in  the  Ottoman  Empire,  had  been  given 
to  him.  Bagdad,  you  may  remember,  was  founded  about  the 
year  749,  upon  the  division  of  the  Saracenic  Empire,  and 
became  the  seat  of  government  of  the  Kalifs,  of  the  race  of 
Abbas;  and  so  continued  for  500  years.  It  was  here  that  the 
hero  of  the  Arabian  Tales,  Haroun  al  Raschid,  ascended  the 
throne  in  786,  and  elevated  the  Saracenic  character  to  its 
highest  point  in  the  scale  of  social  elegance.  Namlk  Pasha 
enjoyed  his  reign  in  that  beautiful  city  very  well  for  a  while, 
but  his  master,  the  Sultan,  concluded  that  his  presence  was 
needed  in  Constantinople,  as  president  of  the  grand  mejlis, 
or  supreme  council  of  state,  if  I  recollect  aright,  and  he  was 
recalled. 

His  journey  from  Bagdad  to  Diarbekir,  more  than  five 

[70] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

hundred  miles,  with  his  harem,  consisting  (I  think)  of  his  two 
wives  and  their  children,  several  female  slaves,  both  black 
and  white,  several  maid-servants  and  nurses,  and  two  black 
eunuchs;  with  his  Kaiher  Bey,  his  Divan  Effendi,  his  Seraf, 
his  Kedhoodar,  and  their  families;  together  with  his  cooks, 
his  grooms,  his  pipe-bearers,  his  Cavasses,  his  muleteers,  and 
other  attendants,  numbering  fifty  or  more;  must  have  been  a 
tedious  and  expensive  affair,  as  so  large  a  caravan  as  they 
composed  could  make  only  about  twenty-five  miles  a  day. 
He  concluded  to  stop  in  Diarbekir  awhile  to  rest,  before  com- 
mencing the  last  half  of  his  journey  to  the  seashore.  He  there- 
fore accepted  the  proffered  use  of  Omer  Pasha's  Kiosk,  or 
summer  house,  in  the  village  of  Alipoonga,  about  a  mile  from 
Diarbekir;  and,  during  the  month  of  his  stay,  I  was  called 
to  visit  his  harem  frequently.  I  fancy  that  a  brief  account 
of  one  of  these  visits  may  not  be  uninteresting. 

The  Pasha  of  Diarbekir,  who  had  great  confidence  in  me, 
had  recommended  my  services  to  his  highness.  He,  there- 
fore, sent  his  seraf,  and  begged  that  I  would  do  him  the  favor 
to  ride  out  and  see  his  son,  who  was  dangerously  ill.  I 
mounted  my  horse,  and  accompanied  the  seraf  to  the  Kiosk, 
We  rode  into  the  large  court  of  the  selamluc,  the  seraf  called 
two  of  the  grooms  to  hold  our  horses,  we  dismounted,  as- 
cended the  stair-way,  which,  as  usual,  was  outside  of  the 
building,  passed  along  a  projecting  walk,  and  entered  the 
large  veranda.  Here  I  stopped  a  minute  while  the  seraf 
went  in  and  announced  my  arrival.  He  soon  came  back  say- 
ing that  the  Pasha  was  busy  just  then,  and  desired  me  to  be 
seated  in  the  room  of  his  private  secretary.  I  was,  there- 
fore, conducted  into  that  room,  and  was  surprised  to  find 
that  his  secretary  was  my  old  friend,  Suliman  Effendi, 
formerly  the  divan  Effendi  of  Hamdi  Pasha.  He  seemed  very 
glad  to  see  me,  and  we  had  a  pleasant  chat.  Meanwhile  he 
had  ordered  coffee  to  be  served.  Then  I  was  conducted  into 
the  presence  of  his  highness,  who  received  me  very  court- 
eously and  desired  me  to  sit  upon  the  divan  near  him.  He 
also  ordered  sweet-meats  and  coffee  to  be  brought.  He  ex- 
tolled the  skill  and  honesty  of  English  and  American  phy- 
sicians, and  said  he  had  often  heard  his  secretary  speak  of 
me;  and,  as  his  darling  son,  the  light  of  his  eyes,  was  very  ill, 
as  well  as  some  others  in  his  harem,  he  had  sent  for  me,  and 

[71] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

hoped  that  with  my  aid  they  all  would  be  speedily  cured.  I 
made  my  temana,  and  replied  that  I  would  cheerfully  do  all 
I  could  for  their  recovery.  He  called  one  of  the  eunuchs,  and 
told  him  to  announce  to  his  boy's  mother  that  he  would  soon 
come  into  the  harem  with  the  doctor.  Soon  we  proceeded  to 
the  door  of  the  harem,  and,  having  knocked,  the  door  was 
opened  by  a  eunuch,  after  he  had  called  out  in  a  loud  voice 
—  "Hakim  geldi,  Kimse  olmasun" — "The  doctor  has  come, 
let  no  one  be  seen."  Notwithstanding,  as  we  entered  the 
court,  I  saw  several  female  servants  running  in  various 
directions  to  get  out  of  sight.  We  were  conducted  up-stairs 
through  a  livan,  or  verandah,  overlooking  the  garden  (in 
which  was  a  beautiful  fountain  playing  into  a  rectangular 
basin  of  marble)  and  into  a  small  but  nicely  furnished  and 
pleasant  room,  where  the  Pasha's  son,  a  child  about  three 
years  old,  was  lying  upon  a  divan,  while  his  mother  sat  at  his 
feet,  covered  with  the  silk  sheet,  which  is  generally  worn  by 
rich  Moslem  women,  when  in  the  street.  So  I  could  only  see 
her  eyes,  and  a  small  part  of  her  face.  She  conversed  very 
intelligently,  and  like  a  gentle-woman,  and  seemed  to  love 
her  little  boy  very  much,  as  did  the  Pasha.  I  subsequently 
learned  that  she  was  half  sister  of  the  late  Sultan  Abdul 
Aziz,  her  mother  being  a  Circassian.  After  ascertaining  the 
nature  of  the  boy's  illness,  I  went  with  the  Pasha  into  an 
adjoining  room  and  there  examined  another  patient.  She 
was  sitting  upon  a  bed  spread  upon  the  carpet,  and  supported 
by  a  maid-servant,  both  covered  with  the  sheet  and  veil. 
On  my  desiring  to  feel  her  pulse,  one  small,  white  hand,  and 
then  another,  made  its  appearance  from  under  the  sheet. 
But  when  I  asked  to  see  her  tongue,  she  hesitated.  The 
Pasha  told  her  that  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  comply  with 
my  request,  and,  then,  reluctantly  she  raised  the  veil. 
This  was  apparently  an  eifort  which  shocked  the  prejudices 
of  my  fair  patient,  for  in  a  moment  she  drew  the  veil  down 
over  her  face,  and  turned  away.  She  answered  my  questions, 
however,  with  simplicity  and  clearness. 

I  then  left  the  apartment,  and  followed  the  Pasha  back  to 
the  Selamluc.  There,  having  answered  his  questions  in  regard 
to  the  nature  of  their  diseases,  and  the  prospect  of  their 
recovery,  I  compounded  some  powders  from  my  pocket-case, 
and  gave  directions  in  regard  to  their  administration,  and 

[72] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

also  instructions  in  regard  to  the  food  suitable  for  each 
patient;  and,  having  refused  a  chibook,  but  taken  another 
cup  of  coffee,  I  took  my  leave,  the  Pasha  sending  an  attend- 
ant to  escort  me  to  my  house. 

On  my  visits  to  harems,  I  have  always  found  the  inmates 
very  reserved,  especially  if  young.  They  always  took  time, 
previous  to  my  admission,  to  put  on  the  sheet,  which  they 
wear  in  the  street,  and  which  completely  enshrouds  them 
from  head  to  foot,  and  generally  underneath  that  a  thick 
veil  over  the  face.  (I  have  sometimes  had  to  examine  the 
pulse  through  the  medium  of  a  piece  of  gauze.)  When  I  in- 
sisted upon  seeing  the  tongue  of  the  patient  there  was  always 
much  cautious  manoeuvring  to  avoid  exposure  of  much  of 
the  face.  Sometimes  the  patient  has  even  thrust  her  tongue 
through  a  rent  in  the  veil,  made  for  the  purpose! 

Although  the  anxiety  of  the  Turk  for  the  recovery  of  any 
inmate  of  his  harem,  who  may  be  dangerously  ill,  generally 
overcomes  his  strong  aversion  to  the  admission  of  a  physician 
within  its  (to  him)  sacred  precincts,  yet  the  doctor  cannot 
but  be  regarded  as  an  intruder  to  some  extent,  and  any  in- 
discretion on  his  part  might  lead  to  fearful  consequences. 

Sometimes,  after  several  visits  to  a  harem  composed  chiefly 
of  elderly  women,  their  shyness  has  gradually  worn  off,  and 
they  have  ventured  to  make  such  inquiries  as  these  —  "How 
do  you  like  living  in  our  country?"  "Is  it  as  pleasant  in 
America  as  it  is  here?"  "Are  the  ladies  there  permitted  to 
go  abroad  unattended  by  a  eunuch?"  "Are  they  permitted 
to  go  to  the  Bath  every  week?"  "Do  their  husbands  ever 
beat  them?"  "Can  they  love  men  who  wear  hats?"  "How 
did  you  persuade  your  wife  to  come  so  far  from  her  home?'* 

From  careful  inquiry  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  only 
about  one  man  in  twenty  among  the  Turks  has  more  than 
one  wife.  Only  the  rich  can  afford  to  keep  up  large  establish- 
ments; and  often  among  them  I  have  found  many  who  had 
only  one  from  choice,  having  observed  that  a  plurality  of 
wives  almost  always  leads  to  jealousies  and  contentions. 
In  a  harem  containing  several  wives,  it  is  usual  to  assign  to 
each  separate  suites  of  apartments. 

The  feeling  that  women  are  sacred,  and  should  be  secluded 
as  far  as  possible  from  contact  with  the  other  sex,  is  very 
strong,  not  only  in  Moslems,  but  in  the  Armenians,  Syrians, 

[73] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

and  other  nominally  Christian  sects;  although  the  practice 
of  the  latter,  with  regard  to  the  seclusion  of  women,  is  not 
so  strict  as  among  the  former.  When  I  have  called  at  the 
houses  of  the  Armenians  and  Syrians,  I  have  always  found 
the  women  with  the  sheet,  or  a  veil,  thrown  over  them;  and 
at  feasts  they  always  keep  themselves  either  in  a  separate 
room,  or  at  one  end  of  a  very  long  apartment,  while  the  men 
are  at  the  opposite  extremity.  In  their  churches  a  lattice 
work  railing,  six  feet  high,  separates  them  from  the  men. 
Turkish  women  are  not  allowed  to  go  to  the  mosques  at  the 
hours  when  the  men  are  performing  their  devotions. 

I  once  inquired  of  a  very  intelligent,  thoughtful  Turk, 
why  it  was  that  they  always  required  their  females  to  cover 
their  faces  with  a  thick  veil  when  in  the  street,  or  in  the 
presence  of  other  men.  He  replied  —  "Does  not  the  ninth 
commandment  say  —  *Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neigh- 
bor's wife?'  If  then  I  allow  the  beautiful  face  of  my  wife  to 
be  exposed  to  the  gaze  of  men,  shall  I  not  cause  them  to  sin?" 

Says  Rev.  Dr.  Thompson,  for  more  than  twenty-five  years 
a  missionary  in  Turkey,  —  "  The  reasons  (and  such  there 
are)  for  thus  confining  the  women  very  much  to  their  homes, 
and  of  closely  veiling  them  when  abroad,  are  found  in  the 
character  of  Oriental  people  from  remote  ages ;  and  the  veils 
can  never  be  safely  abolished,  nor  these  domestic  regula- 
tions relaxed,  until  a  pure  and  enlightened  Christianity  has 
prepared  the  way.  If  I  had  the  power  to  remove  them  at 
once,  I  would  not.  They  are  an  important  compensation 
for  true  modesty  in  both  sexes  —  the  result  of  a  great  moral 
necessity." 

For  some  time  past  my  attention  has  been  turned  to  the 
importance  of  educating  and  sending  forth  female  medical 
missionaries.  The  more  I  look  back  upon  my  experience  in 
Turkey,  —  the  more  I  reflect  upon  the  customs  of  society, 
and  the  state  of  the  females  of  that  land  —  the  more  am  I 
persuaded,  that,  in  no  other  way,  can  so  much  be  done  for 
their  elevation  and  enlightenment  as  by  sending  out  among 
them  well  educated,  devotedly  pious,  female  physicians. 

My  reasons  for  this  belief  are  briefly  these: 

I.  A  female  missionary  physician  could  relieve  a  vast 
amount  of  physical  sufl"ering  and  disease  among  the  women 
of  that  land,  which  a  male  physician  could  not.  I  have  said 

[74] 


EXPERIENCES  IN  ASIATIC  TURKEY 

that  I  have  probably  visited  more  than  looo  Turkish  harems* 
I  should  also  say,  that,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  it  has  been 
not  to  prescribe  for  females,  but  males,  —  and  in  these 
cases  all  the  females  would  be  carefully  secluded  in  an  apart- 
ment by  themselves.  Oftentimes,  rather  than  break  through 
the  sacred  barrier  which  surrounds  the  harem,  women  are 
allowed  to  suffer  and  die,  unattended  by  a  physician.  Be- 
sides, when  a  physician  is  called,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult, 
often,  to  elicit  sufficient  information  to  enable  him  to  treat 
the  case  properly.  I  have  frequently  been  taken  into  a 
harem,  allowed  to  feel  the  pulse  of  the  patient,  and  then  been 
hurried  out  with  no  opportunity  to  ask  any  questions.  If 
a  good  physician  finds  it  embarrassing,  in  this  country,  to 
obtain  all  needed  information  in  regard  to  the  state  of  a 
female  patient,  how  much  more  so  is  it  in  Turkey,  especially 
when  the  doctor  has  not  entire  command  of  the  language 
of  the  people!  But  in  case  of  a  female  physician,  there 
would  be  no  trouble  of  this  kind. 

2.  A  female  missionary  physician  could  do  vastly  more 
than  any  other  to  elevate  and  enlighten  the  women  of  Tur- 
key. The  very  fact  of  her  possessing  so  much  knowledge, 
skill,  and  benevolence,  would  alone  tend,  greatly,  not  only 
to  elevate  the  ideas  of  the  people  of  the  Orient  as  to  the 
worth  and  importance  of  woman  in  society,  but  also  to 
create  in  them  a  desire  for  education  and  the  influences  of 
Christianity. 

Said  the  lamented  Rev.  Dr.  Dwight,  after  more  than 
twenty  years  of  devoted  labor  as  missionary  in  Constanti- 
nople: "I  feel  quite  sure  that  female  missionary  physicians, 
of  the  right  stamp,  would  be  most  Important  auxiliaries  to 
the  missionary  work  In  this  part  of  the  world." 

From  what  I  have  already  said  (Ladies  and  Gentlemen), 
it  will  appear  obvious  to  you  that  in  Turkey  there  is  a  wide 
field  for  the  labors  of  missionary  physicians.  For  about 
thirty  years,  the  American  Board  has  had,  In  connection 
with  its  several  missions  In  Turkey  and  Persia,  about  a  half 
dozen  medical  missionaries.  At  present  several  more  are 
earnestly  called  for,  but  men  of  the  right  stamp  do  not  offer 
themselves,  although  the  profession  seems  to  be  filled  to 
overflowing,  in  this  country. 

[75] 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL  IN  MESOPOTAMIA, 

ARMENIA  AND  KOORDISTAN 

1854-1876 

BY  DAVID   H.   NUTTING,  M.D. 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL  IN  MESOPOTAMIA, 
ARMENIA   AND    KOORDISTAN, 

1854-1876 

BY  DAVID    H.    NUTTING,   M.D. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

IN  the  prosecution  of  my  labors,  as  a  missionary  phy- 
sician, I  often  had  occasion  to  make  journeys  from  sta- 
tion to  station.  In  fact,  I  was  a  circuit  doctor,  having 
charge  of  nearly  all  the  missionary  families  located  between 
the  Persian  Gulf  on  the  south,  and  the  Black  Sea  on  the 
north;  the  Euphrates  on  the  west  and  the  borders  of  Persia 
on  the  east.  I  once  made  a  journey  of  six  hundred  miles  to 
attend  a  single  patient.  During  my  residence  of  twenty 
years,  I  made  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  jour- 
neys in  the  eastern  and  central  parts  of  Asiatic  Turkey;  and 
from  a  record  of  these  various  journeys,  it  appears  that  the 
distance  travelled  was  more  than  twenty-five  thousand 
miles  —  all  on  horseback. 

I  did  not  travel  for  the  sake  of  seeing  new  places  and  new 
sights,  but  because  it  came  in  the  line  of  my  duty.  I  have 
often  passed  within  short  distances  of  noted  ruins  without 
turning  aside  to  see  them.  I  spent  months  within  half  a  day's 
ride  of  the  famous  ruins  of  Tigranocerta,  and  yet  never 
visited  them.  I  spent  more  than  a  year  within  thirty  miles 
of  the  ruins  of  the  city  of  Haran,  in  which  stands  the  famous 
temple  of  the  Sun,  towards  which  the  Roman  Emperor, 
Caracalla,  was  making  a  pilgrimage  when  he  was  assas- 
sinated, and  near  which  is  Rebekah's  well,  before  I  could  find 
time  to  visit  it.  Still  when  without  wasting  any  time,  and 
without  increased  expense,  I  could  visit  interesting  locali- 
ties, I  was,  of  course,  glad  to  do  so,  for  I  enjoy  the  beautiful, 
magnificent  and  wonderful  in  nature  and  art,  exceedingly. 

It  would  be  strange,  if,  in  making  so  numerous  and  so 
long  journeys,  I  had  not  enjoyed  many  interesting  sights, 
and  met  with  some  noteworthy  adventures.  When  I  have 
had  opportunities  to  enjoy  fine  views  of  Oriental  scenery,  I 
have  often  wished  I  could  photograph  them,  and  send  to 
friends  in  America,  so  that  they  might  enjoy  them  too  — 
but,  alas!  I  could  not.  Neither  can  I  graphically  describe 
scenes  and  adventures  —  as  I  wish  I  could.  Notwithstand- 

L79] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

ing,  I  shall  attempt  to  give  you  some  idea  of  the  mode  of 
travelling,  the  difficulties  and  annoyances  met  with,  as  well 
as  the  enjoyments  and  advantages  derived  therefrom;  and 
also  some  little  information  in  regard  to  the  scenery  and  the 
condition,  manners  and  customs  of  the  people,  in  that  part 
of  the  world.  If  the  region  was  one  often  frequented,  and 
often  described,  by  travellers,  I  should  have  less  desire  and 
less  courage  to  note  down  any  of  my  experiences  and  ob- 
servations; but  as  this  is  not  the  case,  I  can  feel  that  I  am 
not  following  in  a  well-known  path,  and  that  what  I  may 
write  will  have  at  least  some  degree  of  novelty. 

There  are  few  carriage  roads  in  Asiatic  Turkey,  although 
the  late  Sultan,  Abdul  Aziz,  a  few  years  ago  ordered  one  to 
be  built  from  Constantinople  to  Bagdad,  some  1200  miles, 
with  branches  to  principal  cities.  The  good  old  fashion  of 
riding  on  horseback  is  still  the  prevalent  one.  Donkeys, 
mules,  and  camels  are  also  used  as  they  were  in  Bible  times. 
On  account  of  the  fear  of  robbers,  it  is  customary  for  people 
about  to  journey  from  one  city  to  another,  in  the  interior, 
to  wait  until  they  have  found  companions  enough  to  form  a 
caravan  of  from  twenty  to  one  hundred  persons.  These, 
mostly  mounted  on  donkeys,  mules,  horses,  or  camels,  with 
many  extra  animals  upon  which  their  baggage  is  loaded,  all 
assemble  at  that  gate  of  the  city  which  is  naturally  their  point 
of  departure,  at  an  appointed  day  and  hour;  and  thence, 
after  farewells  have  been  said  to  friends  about  to  be  left,  and 
all  the  numerous  last  things  attended  to,  the  long  cavalcade 
is  set  in  motion;  the  '^caravan  hashu^^  or  chief  director  of 
the  caravan,  taking  the  lead,  and  all  the  rest  following  single 
file.  On  account  of  the  loaded  animals  which  you  are  obliged 
to  have  with  you,  the  rate  of  speed  is  usually  only  three  miles 
an  hour. 

I  wish  I  could  hold  up  before  you  a  photographic  picture 
of  an  ordinary  Turkish  caravan.  It  embraces  a  motley  group. 
Here  you  have  Turks,  Koords,  Arabs,  Jews,  Yezidees,  Ar- 
menians, Syrians,  and  possibly  a  European  and  his  family, 
all  in  different  costumes,  according  to  their  race  and  rank, 
mounted  on  animals  of  all  colors,  and  varying  in  size  from 
the  camel  down  to  the  diminutive  donkey.  Some  of  them 
have  on  a  costume  similar  to  that  of  the  Zuaves^  some  have 
long  flowing  robes,  of  light,  bright  colors  if  Turks,  but  of 

[80] 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL 

dark  plain  colors  if  Armenians,  Syrians,  or  Jews.  All  have 
on  girdles,  some  of  Persian  shawl,  some  of  Damascus  silk, 
and  others  of  cheaper  material.  All,  also,  have  on  the  /^z, 
or  red  cap,  a  few  without,  but  most  with  turbans  around 
them,  of  various  materials  and  colors.  Many  of  the  company 
are  armed  with  guns,  pistols,  swords,  or  spears.  Almost  all 
are  provided  with  chi-hooks  (long  pipes)  or  nargelis  (an 
apparatus  by  which  the  smoke  of  the  Persian  tenheki  is 
drawn  through  water,  with  a  long  tube) ;  and  some  have  the 
little  Turkish  coffee  pot,  and  cups,  in  the  large  saddle  bags 
upon  which  they  ride.  Some  of  them  have,  thrown  over  their 
saddles,  a  thick  comforter  and  a  Persian  rug,  upon  which 
to  sleep  at  night,  while  others  have  nothing  but  an  ahha^ 
or  large  thick  cloak,  in  which  to  wrap  themselves. 

The  caravan  usually  starts  at  daylight,  and  goes  some 
eight  or  ten  hours  in  one  stage,  and  then  halts  for  the  nighl . 
During  three-fourths  of  the  year,  it  is  usual  to  encamp  in 
the  open  air,  some  of  the  company,  generally,  having  tents, 
but  most  of  them  sleeping  with  nothing  above  them  but  that 
most  glorious  of  all  canopies  —  the  star-spangled  sky;  — 
and  this  can  be  done  very  comfortably  for  a  large  part  of  the 
year,  as  there  is  no  rain  and  no  dew  from  May  till  October. 
During  the  winter,  or  rainy  season,  it  is  necessary  to  stop  in 
caravanseries,  or  Khans,  In  large  cities  and  towns  these 
Khans  are  spacious  buildings,  and  make  quite  a  fine  appear- 
ance externally.  The  best  of  them  are  built  of  hewn  stone, 
two  stories  in  height.  They  are  built  around  a  hollow- 
square,  this  open  court  or  square  being  from  lOO  to  150  feet 
on  each  side,  and  having  a  fountain  of  running  water  in  the 
center.  The  rooms  extend  around  on  all  sides  of  the  court, 
and  have  in  front  of  them,  both  above  and  below,  a  con- 
tinuous portico,  or  veranda.  The  rooms  are  about  I2x  20 
feet,  and  contain  no  furniture  but  a  hassier,  or  thick  mat, 
made  of  rushes,  covering  the  mud  floor,  upon  which  the 
traveller  is  expected  to  spread  his  own  rug  and  comforter, 
and  sleep,  if  he  can,  with  a  hundred  fleas  making  desperate 
attempts  to  devour  him.  If  requested,  the  oda  bashu,  or 
keeper  of  the  rooms,  will  bring  the  traveller  coffee,  bread, 
mutton  cabobs,  and  perhaps  lettuce,  cucumbers,  melons, 
grapes,  or  other  fruit,  if  in  season.  Cabobs  are  usually  made 
of  meat  cut  into  pieces  about  an  inch  square,  and  broiled 

[81] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

on  an  iron  spit,  caused  to  revolve  over  hot  coals.  If  pre- 
ferred he  will  bring  cheese  or  butter,  with  the  bread.  But  the 
butter  is  not  usually  called  for  more  than  once  by  foreign 
travellers  (i.e.  by  Englishmen  or  Americans)  —  for,  having 
been  churned  in  goat-skins,  with  the  hair  turned  inside,  the 
butter  too  much  resembles,  in  one  respect,  the  mortar  used 
in  plastering,  to  be  very  palatable! 

From  July  to  November  grapes  are  very  abundant,  ex- 
cellent, and  cheap;  and,  being  perfectly  ripe,  tender,  and 
sweet,  they  can  be  eaten  with  the  greatest  freedom.  They  are 
not  only  harmless,  but  positively  healthful  and  nourishing, 
as  I  can  testify  from  having  made  a  journey  of  six  hundred 
miles  on  horseback,  eating  nothing  all  the  way  but  grapes, 
and  coarse  wheat  bread,  three  times  a  day,  and  arriving  at 
the  end  of  the  journey  in  greatly  improved  health  and 
strength. 

If  travellers  have  occasion  to  spend  a  night  in  a  small 
village,  they  may  succeed  in  getting  the  use  of  a  room,  by 
themselves,  and  they  may  have  to  sleep  in  one  end  of  a  large 
stable.  The  village  houses  are  mostly  built  of  rough  stone, 
laid  up  and  plastered  with  mud  mixed  with  chopped  straw, 
or  with  sun-dried  bricks,  probably  such  as  the  Israelites 
made  in  Egypt,  plastered  in  same  manner.  These  rooms 
often  have  no  window,  all  the  light  which  they  have  coming 
through  the  hole  above  the  fire-place,  designed  to  let  the 
smoke  out.  Sometimes  they  have  windows  a  foot  square, 
but  with  no  glass. 

Having  made  many  journeys  in  Central  Turkey,  at  all 
seasons,  and  in  all  modes,  I  am  fully  convinced  that  travel- 
ling in  the  dry  season,  and  camping  out,  is  the  most  desirable 
and  comfortable  way.  It  is  usual  to  select,  for  a  stopping 
place,  a  grassy  flat,  near  a  well,  spring,  or  stream  of  water. 
Soon  after  dismounting  your  tent  is  put  up,  you  spread  your 
carpet  upon  the  grass,  and  upon  it  your  bedding  (unless  you 
have  a  camp-bedstead)  —  having  the  tent  all  open  on  the 
side  opposite  the  sun;  and,  after  enjoying  the  pleasant 
landscape,  you  recline  perhaps  and  take  refreshing  rest  for 
an  hour  or  two.  Meanwhile  your  servant  has  opened  your 
canteen  or  chest  which  contains  your  provisions,  cooking  and 
eating  utensils,  taken  some  charcoal  from  the  bag,  which 
you  had  provided,  made  a  fire  in  the  mongol,  or  brasier,  pre- 

[82] 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL 

pared  tea,  toasted  bread,  and  boiled  some  eggs,  or  a  chicken 
perhaps,  of  which  you  partake  with  remarkable  relish. 

After  you  have  eaten,  you  perceive  that  the  muleteers, 
and  other  natives  belonging  to  the  caravan,  are  sitting  in 
groups  around  the  fanjoras,  or  copper  boilers,  in  which  their 
pilaf  is  being  cooked,  smoking  their  chibooks,  and  enter- 
taining each  other  with  stories  of  their  wonderful  adven- 
tures. 

Soon  after  dark,  you  close  your  tent,  retire  for  the  night, 
and  have  sweet  sleep  till  near  daybreak,  unless  disturbed 
by  wolves  or  robbers.  You  need  not  be  alarmed  if  you  are 
awakened  by  the  firing  of  guns,  or  by  a  stray  donkey  snap- 
ping one  of  your  tent  cords,  and  then  setting  up  such  a  bray- 
ing as  can  only  be  appreciated  by  Oriental  travellers. 
Some  nights,  for  variety,  you  may  be  annoyed  for  hours  by 
the  dismal  howling  and  barking  of  a  pack  of  jackals. 

In  April,  1858,  while  journeying  with  my  family  and 
associates,  from  Mosul  to  Mardin,  one  night,  when  encamped 
on  the  desert,  I  was  suddenly  awakened  by  an  unusual 
noise.  Jumping  up  and  looking  through  an  opening  in  the 
tent,  I  perceived  what  I  supposed  to  be  a  large  dog  trying  to 
seize  by  the  throat  my  horse,  which  was  fettered  and  fast- 
ened to  a  picket  near  by,  and  was  rearing  and  striking  to 
keep  the  animal  off.  I  called  out  to  one  of  the  men,  who, 
throwing  stones,  drove  him  away.  Soon  we  heard  a  great 
outcry,  and  the  firing  of  guns,  at  another  encampment  of 
travellers  near  by.  We  soon  learned  that  the  animal  was  a 
wolf,  and  that,  after  having  attacked  and  bitten  several 
men,  he  had  been  pursued  and  killed.  In  the  morning  the 
wolf  was  brought  to  our  tent,  and  I  found  it  to  be  the  lar- 
gest one  I  ever  had  seen.  We  felt  very  thankful  that  it  did 
not  rush  into  our  tent  and  seize  our  darling  child.  In  cross- 
ing the  plains  we  often  see  packs  of  wolves,  and  herds  of 
gazelles,  and  occasionally  wild  boars.  The  same  year  as  I 
was  going  from  Argona  to  Oorfa,  one  afternoon  as  we  were 
riding  along,  we  saw  some  gazelles  about  to  cross  our  path. 
My  muleteer  seized  his  rifle  and,  just  as  they  came  within 
about  twenty  rods  of  us,  he  fired,  and  down  dropped  one 
of  the  fleet  creatures;  and  at  our  next  camping  ground,  it 
was  dressed  and  cooked,  furnishing  an  agreeable  variety 
in  our  plain  fare. 

[83] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

Sometimes,  when  travelling  in  the  spring,  we  come  to 
rivers  much  swollen  by  recent  rains  and  the  melting  of  snow 
in  the  mountains,  and  find  it  a  somewhat  exciting  and 
dangerous  feat  to  cross  them. 

In  May,  1859,  journeying  from  Diarbekir  eastward  to 
Bitlis,  with  my  family,  after  a  two  days'  ride,  we  came  to 
the  Botman  river,  a  large  branch  of  the  Tigris.  It  was  about 
ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  we  reached  the  river,  and 
we  did  not  all  get  over  till  night.  A  caravan  of  forty  animals, 
loaded  with  merchandise,  had  arrived  just  before  us;  and, 
as  they  had  commenced  crossing,  we  had  to  wait  till  they 
were  all  over,  before  we  could  go.  There  was  only  one  small 
kellec,  or  raft  of  goat-skins,  with  which  to  cross,  and,  as  that 
could  take  only  six  loads  each  time,  and  going  and  returning 
occupied  an  hour,  on  account  of  the  width  and  the  rapidity 
of  the  river,  it  was  a  tedious  operation.  After  the  loads  were 
all  over,  the  animals  were  all  driven  into  the  stream,  and 
compelled  to  swim  across,  and  some  were  carried  by  the 
current  a  mile  down  before  they  reached  the  opposite  bank, 
while  one  was  drowned. 

The  next  day  we  reached  the  Redwan  river,  which, 
though  not  so  wide,  is  deeper  and  more  dangerous.  Here,  as 
I  could  not  induce  one  of  the  raftsmen  to  swim  my  two 
horses  over,  apart  from  the  crowd  of  caravan  animals,  as  I 
did  the  previous  day,  my  dispensary  assistant,  Bedros,  and 
one  of  my  muleteers,  mounted  them  and  rode  them  into 
the  river,  intending  to  make  them  swim  over.  The  banks 
were  very  steep,  and  soon  they  lost  footing,  and  began  to 
rear,  and  plunge,  and  snort,  in  a  very  exciting  manner. 
Bedros  could  not  keep  his  seat,  and  I  feared  both  horse  and 
rider  would  go  down  together.  I  knew  Bedros  was  a  good 
swimmer,  and  so  I  called  out  to  him  to  let  the  horse  go  and 
save  himself  —  and  so  he  did.  (Afterwards  I  employed  a 
man,  acquainted  with  the  river,  to  take  my  horse  over,  at  a 
point  a  half  mile  farther  up,  without  serious  accident.) 

The  following  December,  journeying  with  only  one  attend- 
ant, I  attempted  to  ford  the  Botman  river,  there  about  forty 
rods  wide,  and  three  to  four  feet  deep.  Before  we  got  over, 
my  Russian  hoorges  (large  saddle  bags),  containing  my  cloth- 
ing, books,  and  medicines,  and  over  which  was  spread  my 
bedding,  covered  with  a  small  Persian  rug,  were  raised  by 

[84] 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL 

the  water  from  the  pack-saddle  of  the  baggage  mule,  and 
carried  down  stream.  My  rubber  boots,  also,  filled  with 
water  (as  I  could  not  raise  my  feet  high  enough  to  prevent 
it),  and  this  did  not  add  to  my  comfort  during  the  seven  hours 
we  had  to  ride  before  reaching  our  next  stopping  place, 
Bismil. 

I  have  crossed  "the  great  river  Euphrates,"  so  often  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible,  many  times,  in  four  different  places, 
but  always  in  gemiler  or  "ships,"  as  the  natives  call  them. 
They  are  large  flat-bottomed  boats,  rudely  constructed, 
into  which  men,  women,  and  children,  with  animals  of  all 
kinds,  are  packed,  and  conducted  over  by  men  with  long 
poles  and  oars.  Sometimes  they  are  unable  to  bring  the  ships 
very  near  to  the  shore;  and,  in  that  case,  we  have  to  clasp 
arms  affectionately  around  the  neck  of  some  swarthy  Arab, 
and  be  carried  ashore  on  his  back. 

But  perhaps  you  may  ask  —  are  there  no  bridges  in  that 
part  of  Turkey.^  There  are  quite  a  number.  At  Bagdad, 
Mosul,  and  Jesirch,  the  Tigris  is  crossed  on  bridges  of 
boats.  At  Diarbekir,  over  the  same  river,  there  is  a  fine 
stone  bridge,  of  ten  arches,  probably  built  by  the  Romans 
some  fifteen  hundred  years  ago,  but  as  solid  and  strong  as 
ever.  Near  Sivas  in  Armenia  I  crossed  in  1856  another  fine 
old  stone  bridge  over  the  Kuzzle  Urmak,  of  fourteen  arches, 
if  I  remember  aright.  Near  Tigranocerta  there  is  another 
old  Roman  bridge,  spanning  the  Botman  river  with  one 
immense  arch.  Major  Garden,  an  English  traveller  who 
visited  and  sketched  it,  told  me  that  he  considered  it  a 
wonderful  specimen  of  antique  engineering.  Between  Diar- 
bekir and  Mosul  I  saw  the  ruins  of  two  fine  stone  bridges 
over  the  Tigris,  a  part  of  the  arches  and  butments  still 
standing,  one  at  Hassan-Keffr,  and  the  other  at  Jesiveh. 
Between  Erzroom  and  Moosh,  I  crossed  the  Murad  Chat,  the 
eastern  or  principal  branch  of  the  upper  Euphrates,  on  an 
old  stone  bridge  of  some  fourteen  arches,  two  of  which  had 
fallen,  leaving  the  intervening  pier  standing,  but  inclining 
down  stream,  at  an  angle  of  thirty  degrees  from  perpendicu* 
lar.  The  Turks  had  placed  timbers,  extending  from  the 
bridge  on  either  side  to  the  top  of  this  leaning  pier,  and  upon 
these  we  were  obliged  to  cross. 

I  remember,  well,  crossing  a  still  more  dilapidated  stone 

[85] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

bridge  over  the  Bitlis  river  near  Garzan.  It  was  in  May, 
when  the  river,  always  swift  and  noisy,  was  much  swollen 
by  the  melting  of  snow  in  the  mountains  among  which  it 
passes,  so  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  ford  it, 
and  there  was  no  kellec  to  take  us  over.  When  we  arrived  at 
the  bridge,  we  found  that  two  of  the  six  arches  composing 
it  had  fallen.  A  considerable  part  of  the  fifth  pier  was  stand- 
ing, and  the  trunks  of  two  trees,  about  a  foot  in  diameter, 
and  twenty  feet  long,  unhewn,  had  been  placed  so  as  to  con- 
nect the  main  part  of  the  bridge  with  this  pier.  To  attempt 
to  cross  on  these  seemed  a  very  hazardous  operation,  but 
there  was  no  alternative,  and  the  muleteers  assured  us  that 
they  had  often  crossed  in  safety.  Mrs.  N.  and  I  dismounted, 
and  waited  to  see  the  baggage  mules  over  before  we  at- 
tempted to  cross.  Some  of  the  animals  crossed  without 
great  difficulty,  one  muleteer  leading  by  the  halter,  and 
another  steadying  by  the  tail.  But  there  was  a  young  mule, 
having  upon  his  pack-saddle  two  boxes  of  medicines,  who 
seemed  determined  not  to  cross.  When  he  had  gone  half 
way  over,  the  sound  and  the  sight  of  the  rapid,  roaring 
stream,  twenty  feet  below,  frightened  him,  so  that  he  re- 
treated precipitately,  and  came  near  falling  into  the  river. 
But  at  last,  other  expedients  having  failed,  he  was  blind- 
folded, and  with  great  difficulty  conducted  over.  Our 
horses  were  next  led,  and  we  followed,  as  best  we  could. 
But  this  was  not  all.  We  had  only  reached  the  pier —  how 
were  we  to  get  from  that  to  the  bank,  distant  thirty  feet  or 
more.^^  Why,  the  arch  and  butment,  beyond,  had  fallen 
against  this  in  such  a  manner  that  a  sort  of  steep,  rough 
stair-way  had  been  formed  down  into  the  river,  which  on 
that  side  was  shallow,  and  so  we  clambered  down,  from 
stone  to  stone  and  waded  out. 

Many  years  ago,  as  I  was  informed,  a  little  above  the 
town  of  Birijic,  there  was  a  fine  old  Roman  bridge  over  the 
Euphrates,  built  of  stone.  Some  Turks,  for  a  consideration, 
obtained  from  the  government  the  exclusive  right  to  work 
the  ferry  at  Birijic,  which  is  on  the  great  route  of  travel 
between  Aleppo  and  Oorfa,  and  other  cities  beyond.  In 
order  to  compel  caravans  to  cross  at  the  ferry,  they  caused 
the  bridge  to  be  blown  up,  and  it  has  never  been  rebuilt. 
Another  stone  bridge  over  the  Gurk-soo,  a  branch  of  the 

[86] 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL 

Euphrates,  between  Adiaman  and  Besni,  was  destroyed  by 
the  inhabitants  of  a  village  near  by,  to  prevent  the  annoy- 
ance caused  by  so  many  travellers  stopping  in  their  village 
over  night,  and  quartering  themselves  upon  them,  as  was 
formerly  the  custom. 

On  the  great  post  route  between  Constantinople  and  Bag- 
dad, near  Baccur-Maden,  there  is  another  stone  bridge,  over 
the  western  branch  of  the  Tigris,  which  I  have  often  noticed 
in  passing,  the  central  arch  of  which  was  carried  away  some 
twenty  years  ago;  and,  although  it  might  be  rebuilt  at  an 
expense  of  one  thousand  dollars,  it  has  not  been  —  and  in 
consequence  caravans,  and  posts,  are  often  detained  several 
days  at  a  time  in  the  rainy  season,  when  the  river  rises 
rapidly,  being  in  a  ravine  between  the  mountains. 

While  in  Turkey  I  think  I  saw  only  two  new  bridges,  of 
any  considerable  magnitude,  and  these  were  on  the  road 
from  Oorfa  to  Severek.  They  were  not  constructed  at  the 
expense  of  the  government,  but  by  the  widow  of  a  rich 
Turkish  merchant  of  Oorfa,  with  whose  son  I  was  well  ac- 
quainted, having  treated  him  several  weeks  for  partial 
paralysis.  This  widow,  having  been  informed  that  men  were 
often  drowned,  while  attempting  to  ford  the  Chem-Chai,  a 
river  twelve  miles  northwest  from  Oorfa,  resolved  that  in- 
stead of  expending  a  large  sum  of  money  in  making  a  pil- 
grimage to  Mecca,  as  all  good  Moslems  are  expected  to  do 
once  in  their  lives,  she  would  use  the  money  in  building  a 
good  stone  bridge  over  this  river  —  which  she  rightly  judged 
would  be  at  least  an  equally  meritorious  act.  It  is  really  a 
very  beautiful  bridge,  150  feet  long,  built  of  nicely  hewn, 
white  lime-stone.  On  one  side  there  are  two  recesses,  wherein 
travellers  may  stop  and  offer  up  prayers  for  the  person  who 
caused  the  bridge  to  be  built. 

Crossing  the  Taurus  Mountains,  This  chain  of  moun- 
tains extends,  as  you  know,  from  west  to  east,  through  the 
central  part  of  Asiatic  Turkey,  forming  the  water-shed  be- 
tween the  waters  flowing  into  the  Black  Sea,  and  those 
flowing  into  the  Persian  Gulf  and  Mediterranean  Sea.  I 
have  had  occasion  to  cross  this  range  of  mountains  probably 
fifty  times,  and  in  four  or  five  diff"erent  passes.  The  average 
time  occupied  in  crossing  is  eight  hours.  The  mountains  are, 
so  far  as  I  have  seen,  generally  rocky  and  barren,  and  vary 

[87] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

In  height  from  5000  to  13,000  feet.  The  roads  over  these 
mountains  are  mere  bridle  paths,  marked  out  by  no  skillful 
engineer,  and  wrought  chiefly  by  the  hoofs  of  the  energetic 
and  sure-footed  mules,  which  for  centuries  have  been  con- 
stantly traversing  them.  The  ascents  and  descents  are  often 
so  steep  that  it  is  with  difficulty  that  saddles  can  be  kept  in 
position.  In  many  places  the  narrow  path  runs  along  the 
steep  side  of  the  mountain;  and  the  rider,  as  he  looks  from 
his  dizzy  height  down  the  almost  perpendicular  declivity, 
thinks  how  a  single  mis-step  of  his  animal  might  precip- 
itate him  hundreds  of  feet  into  the  ravine  below. 

I  first  crossed  the  Taurus  in  May,  1856,  accompanied  by 
three  other  missionaries,  and  our  families.  In  crossing,  two 
of  the  ladies  met  with  serious  accidents.  While  descending 
the  first  range  of  mountains,  Mrs.  N.'s  spirited  horse,  look- 
ing back  to  see  the  animals  following  him,  stepped  too  near 
the  outer  edge  of  the  path,  and  it  gave  way,  plunging  horse 
and  rider  down  the  bank  a  dozen  feet.  Not  long  after,  in 
crossing  a  branch  of  the  river  Tigris,  near  Maden,  which 
was  much  swollen  by  recent  rains,  Mrs.  L.'s  horse  lost  his 
footing  in  the  rocky  bed  of  the  stream,  and  threw  her  into 
the  rapid  and  powerful  current.  Fortunately  her  faithful 
servant,  Yacob,  saw  her  fall,  and,  rushing  in,  rescued  her 
from  a  watery  grave.  But  she  had  to  ride  in  her  wet  garments 
three  hours  before  we  arrived  at  our  place  of  encampment. 

In  October  of  the  following  year,  as  I  was  crossing  again, 
having  been  belated  through  the  carelessness  of  my  mule- 
teer, I  found  myself  on  the  mountains,  a  dozen  miles  from 
the  khan,  where  I  was  to  stop,  and  daylight  all  gone.  How- 
ever, we  contrived  to  keep  on  our  way  for  an  hour,  by  star- 
light. Then,  all  at  once  we  perceived  that  the  sky  was 
gathering  blackness,  and  soon  a  thunder  storm  commenced, 
and  we  were  in  total  darkness.  I  dared  not  proceed,  as  there 
were  dangerous  places  in  the  way;  and  the  horse  I  rode  was 
nearly  blind.  So  we  sat  still,  waiting  for  the  storm  to  pass 
and  the  sky  to  clear  up.  In  the  meantime,  some  thieves, 
who  were  in  the  vicinity,  endeavored  to  decoy  our  baggage 
animal;  but,  perceiving  it  in  time  we  made  an  outcry,  and 
they  fled;  and  we  reached  our  stopping  place  in  safety  be- 
fore ten  o'clock. 

I  once  found  it  necessary  to  cross  the  Taurus  in  mid- 

[88] 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL 

winter,  when  the  snow  was  deep  on  the  mountains.  Since 
the  last  storm  a  caravan  had  passed,  and  we  found  a  narrow 
path.  As  long  as  the  horses  stepped  in  the  path,  all  went 
well,  but  if  an  animal  chanced  to  step  outside  of  the  path 
down  he  plunged  into  deep  snow,  and  it  was  with  great 
difficulty  that  we  could  put  him  upon  the  track  again.  I 
had  only  one  man  with  me.  We  were  thus  frequently  de- 
layed by  the  falling  of  one  of  our  horses,  so  that  at  sun- 
down we  were  miles  from  any  human  habitation,  and  the 
highest  mountains  yet  to  be  crossed.  I  began  to  fear  that 
we  might  be  obliged  to  spend  the  long,  cold  night  in  the 
snowdrifts,  as  some  travellers  whom  we  met  prophesied 
we  should,  unless  we  turned  and  went  with  them  to  the  near- 
est khan.  But  we  kept  on.  Before  we  reached  the  moun- 
tain top,  we  passed  a  perpendicular  precipice,  down  which, 
that  very  day,  a  horse,  making  a  mis-step,  had  fallen  some 
fifty  feet,  and  been  killed.  The  sight  of  this,  and  the  severe 
cold,  induced  us  to  dismount,  and  walk  most  of  the  time 
until  late  in  the  evening,  when  we  reached  the  town  of 
Baccur-Maden,  where  the  Padishahs  copper  mines  are,  and 
where  we  were  kindly  entertained  at  the  house  of  the  Oostar- 
bashu,  or  superintendent  of  the  mining  (whose  son  had  been 
treated  by  me  for  deafness). 

In  September,  1864,  wishing  to  go  from  Mardin  to  Oorfa, 
I  determined,  that,  instead  of  taking  the  usual  circuitous 
route  by  way  of  Diarbekir,  I  would  cross  the  desert  directly, 
a  route  never  before  travelled  by  any  American;  and  thus, 
not  only  save  two  days'  travel,  but  have  an  opportunity  of 
visiting  Veran  Shehr,  a  ruined  city,  of  which  I  had  often 
heard  from  natives.  The  Pasha  of  Diarbekir  had  determined 
to  repopulate  that  city,  which,  together  with  hundreds  of 
villages  around,  for  a  thousand  years,  had  been  deserted, 
from  fear  of  Arabs;  and,  as  the  first  step,  had  sent  work- 
men there  to  build  barracks  for  a  regiment  of  Turkish  cav- 
alry. His  Kaiher  Bey,  and  Mehemet  Jemmayil  Eifendi, 
one  of  his  mejlis,  or  council  (with  both  of  whom  I  was  well 
acquainted)  had  come  to  superintend  the  work.  I  had  for 
an  escort  a  horseman  from  the  Kaimakam  of  Mardin,  and 
the  company  of  some  twenty  muleteers,  who  were  taking 
flour  there  for  the  two  hundred  workmen.  Three  days'  ride 
over  the  beautiful,  once  well  populated,  and  productive,  but 

[89] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

now  deserted  plain,  brought  us  to  the  magnificent  ruins. 
Here  I  spent  nearly  three  days,  very  hospitably  entertained 
by  my  friend  and  former  neighbor,  Jemmayil  Effendi,  since 
Pasha  in  a  Province  east  of  Bagdad,  sharing  with  him  his 
tent  and  board,  enjoying  greatly  my  explorations  in  and 
about  this  walled  city  —  a  description  of  which  I  must  omit. 
A  long  day's  ride  from  this  ruined  city  brought  me  to 
Mezar,  the  residence  of  Ai-ooh  Bey,  He  is  the  chief  of  a  tribe 
numbering  20,000  tents.  I  had  been  furnished  with  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  him;  and,  as  I  approached  his  encamp- 
ment, I  sent  my  horseman  on  with  it  to  his  tent,  and  I  fol- 
lowed slowly  with  my  servant.  When  we  came  near,  several 
of  his  attendants  came  running  out,  to  meet  me;  and  upon 
reaching  the  chiefs  tent,  one  held  my  horse  by  the  bit,  an- 
other took  the  stirrup  on  my  right  hand,  while  two  others 
helped  me  off  on  the  left.  I  was  then  conducted  into  the  tent, 
which  was  about  100  feet  long  by  30  wide,  made  of  goats- 
hair  cloth,  woven  in  strips  each  an  arshan  (27  inches)  wide, 
and  sewed  together  like  a  carpet,  and  supported  on  25  tent 
poles,  placed  in  five  rows  across  the  tent,  five  in  each  row,  the 
middle  ones  being  about  12  feet  high,  the  next  on  either  side 
10,  and  the  other  two  outside  ones  eight  feet.  There  I  met 
the  great  chief,  Ajoob  Bey^  who  received  me  with  great 
cordiality,  and  requested  me  to  be  seated  on  a  mattress 
covered  with  silk,  spread  upon  a  rich  Persian  carpet,  on 
which  were  placed  great  pillows  stuffed  with  wool  to  lean 
upon.  My  boots  were  immediately  pulled  off  by  one  of  his 
servants,  and  water  brought  for  me  to  wash  with  by  another. 
Soon  coffee  was  served.  In  the  course  of  an  hour,  a  kid  had 
been  killed,  dressed,  and  cooked;  wheat  had  been  ground, 
and  baked  in  thin  sheets,  making  very  palatable  bread;  and 
the  food  was  placed  before  me,  on  a  copper  platter,  four  feet 
in  diameter,  which  rested  upon  a  stool  about  a  foot  high. 
The  chief,  and  a  few  friends  of  his,  sat  down  to  eat  with  me; 
and,  rolling  up  their  sleeves,  with  neither  knives  nor  forks, 
in  truly  primitive  style,  they  did  complete  justice  to  the  re- 
past. Indeed  they  ate  so  fast,  that  my  servant,  fearing  I 
should  not  get  my  share,  whispered  to  one  of  the  waiters  to 
bring  me  some  on  a  separate  dish!  After  dinner,  water  was 
again  brought  for  washing  hands,  and  then  coffee  was  again 
served.  Pipes  were  also  given  to  those  who  wished.  And  then 

[90] 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL 

the  chief  had  as  many  questions  to  ask  me  about  America, 
as  I  had  to  ask  him  about  his  tribe,  his  horses,  his  camels, 
his  sheep  and  his  goats.  He  showed  me  some  of  his  fine 
blooded  horses,  and  told  me  of  the  feats  of  endurance  and 
speed  they  had  performed.  I  found  that  like  his  old  name- 
sake, the  patriarch  Job,  of  whom  he  strongly  reminded  me, 
he  was  very  rich.  He  owned  five  hundred  camels,  and 
thousands  of  sheep  and  goats. 

You  may  ask  —  of  what  use  are  these  flocks  and  herds  ? 
Every  summer  they  sell  great  numbers  of  them,  to  be  taken 
to  the  larger  cities;  and  they  also  sell  great  quantities  of 
wool,  which  finds  its  way  to  the  seaports,  and  thence  to 
Europe,  and  America  even,  besides  what  they  consume  for 
their  own  use.  They  also  use  goats'  milk,  and  make  there- 
from much  butter  and  cheese.  All  of  their  grain  they  pur- 
chase in  neighboring  cities.  Their  camels  they  use  for  the 
transportation  of  their  tents  and  household  goods  from  place 
to  place,  as  they  frequently  change  their  location,  going 
southward  in  the  autumn,  and  northward  in  the  spring. 
Many  are  also  used  for  the  transportation  of  merchandise 
from  Bagdad,  and  other  interior  cities,  across  the  desert 
to  the  seaport  towns  on  the  Mediterranean,  and  thence  bring 
back  merchandise  imported  from  Europe.  I  have  often  seen 
caravans,  numbering  500  to  6000  camels.  They  are  rightly 
called  —  "ships  of  the  desert."  (They  have  a  breed  of 
camels  differing  from  the  ordinary  camel,  used  for  heavy 
loads,  as  much  as  the  race-horse  differs  from  the  dray-horse. 
These  are  called  the  delool  or  hedjiu,  and  are  used  exclusively 
for  riding.  They  have  an  easy  pace,  which  they  can  keep 
up  hour  after  hour  —  often  making  70  to  100  miles  in  a  day 
for  several  days  in  succession.  In  praise  of  a  good  delool,  I 
have  heard  the  Arabs  say  —  "His  pace  is  so  easy  that  you 
may  drink  a  cup  of  coffee  while  you  ride.") 

This  chief  was  evidently  greatly  respected  and  admired 
by  the  people  of  his  tribe.  He  was  a  finely  formed  and  noble 
looking  man.  He  was  born  and  brought  up  in  tents,  and 
seemed  greatly  to  enjoy  that  mode  of  life,  and  doubtless 
would  not  have  exchanged  his  position,  as  chief  of  that  tribe, 
for  the  throne  of  a  monarch.  To  me  there  is  something 
peculiarly  fascinating  in  this  tent  life  upon  the  desert. 
More  than  a  million  of  Arabs  live  in  this  way  upon  the  great 

[91] 


DAVID  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

plains  of  Mesopotamia,  which  during  the  dry  season  re- 
semble a  desert,  but  during  the  rainy  season,  a  very  rich 
meadow. 

Probably  one-half  of  the  Koords,  who  number  about  a 
million,  also  live  in  similar  tents.  When  I  was  there  the  Pasha 
of  Koordistan  undertook  to  compel  these  Koords  to  settle 
in  villages,  instead  of  leading  a  nomadic  life.  By  force  he 
took  away  about  20,000  tents,  and  I  saw  them  when  being 
sold  in  the  "Espey  Bazar"  of  Diarbekir.  But  he  was  un- 
successful. They  were  discontented  and  unhappy,  and 
finally  returned  to  their  tent  life  again.  The  Koords  are  good 
horsemen,  expert  in  use  of  rifle^  bold  and  adventurous,  in- 
clined to  brigandage,  but  still  generally  hospitable  to 
strangers. 

The  Arabs  who  inhabit  Mesopotamia  are  chiefly  of  the 
Anezeh,  the  Shammar,  the  Tai,  and  the  Jeboor  tribes.  The 
Anezeh  are  the  most  numerous,  and  say  that  they  can  bring 
into  the  field  100,000  warriors.  They  are  the  descendants 
of  Ishmael,  concerning  whom  it  was  prophesied  (Gen. 
16: 12)  that  he  would  be  "a  wild  man;"  his  hand  against 
every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  against  him;  and  that 
he  should  "dwell  in  the  presence  of  all  his  brethren."  The 
Arabs,  with  local  and  temporary  exceptions,  have  always 
been  an  independent  people,  and  successfully  resisted,  in 
every  age,  the  armies  that  endeavored  to  subdue  them. 
Alexander  the  Great,  even,  failed  to  conquer  them.  Now, 
though  nominally  subject  to  the  Turkish  government,  they 
are  in  reality  as  free  and  independent  as  ever,  exacting  rather 
than  paying  tribute.  About  every  year,  while  I  was  there, 
in  time  of  grain  harvest,  a  large  band,  consisting  of  several 
thousand  armed  men,  mounted  on  swift  horses  and  camels, 
approached  Diarbekir,  Mardin,  Severek,  and  Oorfa,  and  de- 
manded from  the  Pashas  a  large  sum  of  money.  In  case 
this  was  not  forthcoming,  they  threatened  to  devastate  the 
region,  carrying  off  all  the  grain,  flocks  and  herds,  of  the 
surrounding  villages.  Many  times  I  have  known  of  caravans, 
and  the  posts,  having  been  attacked  and  plundered  by  small 
parties  of  the  Anezeh.  When  on  our  first  journey  to  Diar- 
bekir, not  far  from  Oorfa,  we  came  near  being  captured  by 
such  a  party,  consisting  of  about  one  hundred  horsemen, 
armed  with  swords  and  spears. 

[92] 


INCIDENTS  OF  TRAVEL  T-  '.::\<S'<\^^ 

But  still  there  is  much  that  is  interesting  and  attractive 
about  these  Arabs.  They  are  very  frank,  and  hospitable,  as 
well  as  free  and  independent.  In  the  middle  ages,  while  Europe 
was  pervaded  with  darkness  and  ignorance,  they  cultivated 
science  and  literature  to  a  great  extent.  Much  of  our  as- 
tronomical, mathematical,  chemical,  and  medical  science 
originated  in  Arabia.  During  the  past  few  centuries  however, 
they  have  greatly  neglected  education,  and  degenerated 
in  many  respects. 

In  the  evening  the  chief  took  me  into  another  apartment 
of  his  tent,  the  harem,  and  there  I  prescribed  for  his  mother 
who  was  ill.  In  the  morning  he  provided  me  with  two  horse- 
men as  escort,  and  sent  me  on  with  his  best  wishes,  saying 

—  "  Selamet  ile  —  AUaha  usmarladuc "  —  *'  Go  in  peace;  I 
commend  you  to  God." 

Nine  hours'  ride  brought  me  to  Kabur-Khaidur^where  Mah- 
mood  Aga's  encampment  was,  to  whom  also  I  had  a  letter  of 
introduction.  He  was  absent,  but  his  son  received  me  cordially, 
and  gave  me  the  use  of  a  European,  walled  tent,  made  of 
white  duck,  lined  with  fine  chintz,  about  sixteen  feet  in  di- 
ameter —  a  present,  I  was  told,  from  a  certain  Pasha,  who 
probably  received  a  very  fine  Arabian   steed  therefor! 

I  enjoyed  an  exceedingly  refreshing  rest  that  night  in 
Mahmood  Agha's  guest  tent,  and,  awakening  at  daybreak, 
began  to  prepare  for  the  last  day  of  my  journey  across  the 
desert,  for  I  was  within  a  dozen  hours'  ride  of  the  city  of 
Oorfa.  After  drinking  a  cup  of  coflFee  made  from  the  freshly 
browned  and  pounded  berry  brought  from  "Yemen,"  and 
eating  a  plate  of  "seudleu,"  a  very  palatable  dish,  made  of 
rice  boiled  in  milk,  eaten  cold  with  honey,  usually,  I  bade 
my  host  farewell,  mounted  and  rode  away.  His  servant  who 
had  waited  upon  us  accompanied  us  to  the  outskirts  of  the 
encampment,  and  then  having  received  the  customary 
"baksheesh"  or  present,   he  said  —  "bin  beriket  olsoon" 

—  "a  thousand  blessings  let  there  be"  —  "Selamet  ile" 
— "go  in  peace" — "  Yoloonooz  khair  ola,"  "may  your  way  be 
prosperous."  To  which  we  replied  —  "Memnoon  olduk, 
size  de  khair  ola,"  "we  have  been  made  thankful;  to  you  also 
let  there  be  prosperity." 

It  was  a  beautiful  morning,  and  as  we  rode  on,  the  two 
Arab  horsemen  who  accompanied  me,  feeling  the  exhilara- 

[93] 


^^^^4>HJ^nDA^ip  H.  NUTTING,  M.D. 

tion  caused  by  the  fresh  morning  air  of  the  desert,  and  the 
sense  of  freedom,  excited  by  looking  upon  its  vast  expanse, 
were  very  cheerful  and  sportive.  They  seemed  to  enjoy 
displaying  their  fine  horses,  as  well  as  their  horsemanship. 
They  each  carried  a  spear,  some  fifteen  feet  long,  near  the 
head  of  which  was  a  large  tuft  of  ostrich  feathers,  and  these 
they  handled  with  great  dexterity.  Now  they  would  scour 
the  plain  in  pursuit  of  gazelles;  and  now,  each  imagining 
the  other  an  enemy,  they  would  rush  up,  shaking  their 
spears  as  they  approached,  seemingly  about  to  thrust  each 
other  through;  but  just  as  they  were  within  striking  dis- 
tance, they  would  suddenly  check  their  horses,  almost  throw- 
ing them  upon  their  haunches,  and  then  passing  by  would 
cut  another  circle,  to  meet  again  in  the  same  manner.  After 
awhile  they  proposed  a  trial  of  speed,  and  as  they  started 
off,  my  horse,  though  ill  the  previous  day,  seeming  deter- 
mined not  to  be  left  behind,  raced  after  them  —  and  much 
to  their  surprise  soon  took  the  lead.  At  noon,  we  stopped 
for  an  hour  under  a  large  mulberry  tree,  by  the  Julap  river 
to  rest  and  eat  a  lunch,  and  at  four  o'clock  the  city  of  Oorfa 
came  into  view. 

As  we  approached  from  the  east,  it  appeared  to  the  best 
advantage.  It  was  a  splendid  panorama.  In  the  fore- 
ground, the  beautiful  irrigated  gardens,  filled  with  mul- 
berry, pomegranate,  apricot,  plum  and  fig  trees  —  beyond, 
the  great  wall,  with  its  towers  and  battlements,  five  miles 
in  circuit,  —  on  the  left  side  of  the  city,  the  castle  with  its 
separate  fortifications,  —  on  the  right,  the  palace  of  the 
Pasha,  —  in  the  center,  the  great  mosque,  with  its  massive 
and  high  octagonal  minaret,  —  on  either  side,  the  bazars, 
khans,  baths,  and  the  domes  and  minarets  of  other  mosques, 
—  on  the  farther  and  upper  side  of  the  city,  at  the  left,  the 
great  Armenian  church,  and  on  the  right,  the  large,  and  to 
me,  most  interesting  Protestant  Church  —  all  this  composed 
an  Oriental  view  of  which  I  never  tired.  And  here,  in  this 
interesting  city,  generally  supposed  to  be  the  birth-place 
of  the  Patriarch  Abraham,  for  several  centuries  the  chief 
seat  of  Oriental  learning,  where  the  first  translation  of  the 
New  Testament  was  made  into  Syriac,  and  for  twenty- 
eight  years  past  a  most  interesting  mission  station,  I  must 
leave  you  with  thanks  for  your  kind  attention. 

[94] 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBEARY 
BEBKELEY 

THIS  BOOK  IS  Dui^  ^^^l^^^""  """^ 
STAMPED  BELOW 


DEC  3  1917 
4}tin6lM 


\ftK^ 


50to-7,'16 


YC  03702 


■m 


/  7? 


251284 


25^-9,'12 


